If Beijing has its way, there could soon be a U.S.-China « hotline » in space.
A diplomatic back and forth about safety in outer space continued this week, when China said the U.S. ignored emails after its crewed space station nearly collided with two SpaceX satellites last year. China’s complaints had flown largely below the radar; it didn’t air any grievances in public until after it had filed a December 3 note verbale with the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, in which Beijing said its space station had to perform evasive maneuvers on July 1 and October 21 to avoid Starlink satellites and ensure the safety of its astronauts. A day after Newsweek reported China’s semi-formal notification to UN General-Secretary António Guterres, a State Department spokesperson said the U.S. Space Force « did not estimate a significant probability of collision » between the space station and any Starlink spacecraft—or it would’ve sent a « close approach notification » to a Chinese point of contact. In a January 28 note verbale of its own, Washington told the UN the same. « Because the activities did not meet the threshold of established emergency collision criteria, emergency notifications were not warranted in either case, » it read.
