NASA has shared its fears over Elon Musk’s plans to orbit 30,000 satellites around Earth. According to the American organization, such a number of devices would interfere, at best, with its missions and, at worst, would endanger its astronauts because of the risk of collision.
NASA’s relationship with SpaceX is tumultuous, to say the least. One day, the two organizations walk hand in hand to implement new missions to the Moon, then, the next day, the first announces his growing concerns as for the projects of the second. In 2018, SpaceX received permission to put 12,000 satellites into orbit. Today, Elon Musk plans to launch a total of 30,000 as part of the development of Starlink. And this is not not at all to NASA’s liking.
“With the increase in the number of large constellation proposals submitted to the FCC, NASA is concerned about the possibility of a significant increase in the frequency of conjunctions and possible impacts on NASA science and human spaceflight missions. »said the US space agency to the US Federal Communications Commission. “Recognizing the importance of spaceflight safety and the sustainability of the space environment, NASA made similar comments in response to other major constellation proposals”.
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NASA warns of the risk of collisions with SpaceX satellites
According to NASA, the total number of satellites orbiting the Earth could reach 50,000 if Elon Musk carries out his ambitions. “An increase of this magnitude in these confined elevation bands inherently leads to an additional risk of debris-forming collisions, based on object count alone”worries the organization, which also underlines the risks of interference with its scientific missions.
For his part, the CEO of SpaceX believes that there is enough room for everyone in space. ” This is not a situation where we actually block others in any way.”did he declare.“We haven’t stopped anyone from doing anything, and we don’t intend to.”. However, this is not the first time that he has been questioned on the subject. Last December, China made the same comment as its American counterpart regarding the risk of collisions.
