Asger Risom
This time, the margin for error was measured in meters.
Crowding in low Earth orbit has become a familiar concern as satellite launches accelerate worldwide. Near-misses are now routine enough that operators frequently adjust orbits to keep spacecraft apart. But a recent incident has drawn fresh attention to how fragile coordination in space can be.
A close call
According to SpaceX, a potentially dangerous encounter took place in early December after a Chinese rocket placed a satellite into orbit. The object was put on a trajectory that brought it directly into the path of a Starlink satellite, identified as STARLINK-6079.
Michael Nicolls of SpaceX said the Starlink spacecraft had to rapidly fire its thrusters and change course to avoid impact.
The two objects passed within roughly 200 meters of each other, an extremely small distance given orbital speeds.
While close approaches happen regularly, SpaceX said this case stood out because the launch trajectory had not been properly coordinated with other satellite operators.
Coordination concerns
SpaceX representatives said Chinese engineers did not sufficiently share flight path data ahead of the launch, limiting other operators’ ability to plan avoidance maneuvers in advance. According to the company, the lack of transparent data exchange is one of the biggest risks facing modern orbital operations.
Satellites in low Earth orbit circle the planet roughly every 90 minutes and do not respect national borders. Any collision could generate thousands of debris fragments that threaten spacecraft from every country, potentially triggering cascading failures.
In this case, the object involved was linked to a launch by China’s Kinetica-1 rocket.
Launch details
Kinetica-1 lifted off on December 9 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. China Daily reported that the rocket carried six Chinese multi-purpose satellites along with payloads from international partners.
CAS Space, which operates the payloads, said it relies on a ground-based space situational awareness system to choose launch windows that avoid known satellites and debris. The company said it is investigating the incident and acknowledged the need for closer cooperation with other operators.
A growing problem
Both sides agreed on a broader issue: congestion in orbit is increasing rapidly. SpaceX alone has nearly 9,300 Starlink satellites in space, with almost a third launched in 2025.
Because each satellite has a lifespan of about five years, the constellation requires constant replacement.
Data from the European Space Agency underscores the scale of the challenge. Around 13,000 operational satellites are currently in orbit, alongside tens of thousands of larger debris objects and millions of smaller fragments.
Experts, including analysts from LeoLabs previously cited by the media, warn that without better coordination and information sharing, the risk of a major collision will continue to rise.
Sources: SpaceX
