The Earth’s orbit is becoming incredibly crowded.
A growing number of companies and world powers are establishing new satellite constellations at a breakneck pace, steadily increasing the likelihood of a potentially disastrous collision.
In the most recent blowup, a SpaceX Starlink internet satellite had to power up its thrusters to ensure it wasn’t smashed by a Chinese satellite. And the Elon Musk-led company is not happy.
“As far as we know, no coordination or deconfliction with existing satellites operating in space was performed, resulting in a [656 feet] close approach between one of the deployed satellites and STARLINK-6079 (56120) at [350 miles] altitude,” Starlink engineering VP Michael Nicolls tweeted. “Most of the risk of operating in space comes from the lack of coordination between satellite operators — this needs to change.”
“When satellite operators do not share ephemeris for their satellites, dangerously close approaches can occur in space,” he added.
The Chinese Kinetica 1 rocket, which launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on December 9, is operated by Guangzhou-based space company CAS Space. It carried “six Chinese multifunctional satellites,” alongside a number of other spacecraft for international partners, according to state-owned news network China Daily.
The firm has since distanced itself from the event, implying that it hadn’t done anything wrong.
“Our team is currently in contact for more details,” CAS Space tweeted in response to Nicolls. “All CAS Space launches select their launch windows using the ground-based space awareness system to avoid collisions with known satellites/debris. This is a mandatory procedure.”
“We will work on identifying the exact details and provide assistance as the [launch service program],” the company added.
However, the CAS Space agreed with Nicolls that there should be more coordination to avoid orbital collisions.
“CAS Space will coordinate with satellite operators to proceed,” the company wrote in a follow-up. “This calls for re-establishing collaborations between the two New Space ecosystems.”
The close call highlights a rapidly growing problem, as companies and spacefaring nations continue to bulk up their presence in the space surrounding our planet.
The number of active satellites has risen substantially in a matter of just a few years. SpaceX alone has just shy of 9,300 satellites currently orbiting the Earth. Almost a third of them were launched in 2025.
Thanks to their relatively short shelf life of just five years, the company is forced to replenish them at a rapid pace as well. According to Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, one or two of these internet satellites fall back to Earth every day, a figure that’s likely to keep on climbing.
According to the European Space Agency, there are already roughly 13,000 still functioning satellites in orbit. Thousands of other decommissioned or malfunctioning ones remain in the form of space junk.
Roughly 54,000 space objects greater than four inches are currently being tracked, per the ESA. 140 million other pieces measuring between 0.04 inches and 0.39 inches are suspected to clutter up outer space as well, posing an active threat to astronauts and other space assets.
The need for cooperation and coordination to avoid having satellites crash into each other, let alone avoid smashing into space junk, is immense. Experts have warned that just a single collision could set off a disastrous chain reaction, a nightmare scenario dubbed the Kessler syndrome.
Darren McKnight, senior technical fellow at orbital mapping firm LeoLabs, told Forbes last year that the issue is a “ticking time bomb.”
“This grim reality,” LeoLabs COO Dan Ceperly added, “means that collisions are not a question of if but when.”
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