2.9.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jonathanocallaghan/2019/09/02/s…
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The European Space Agency (ESA) says one of its satellites was forced to avoid a satellite from SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, raising concerns about the impact of Starlink on low Earth orbit operations, after SpaceX refused to move their satellite out of the way.
At 11.02 A.M. today, Monday, September 2, ESA’s Aeolus Earth observation satellite had to use its thrusters to move itself out of a potential collision with a Starlink space internet satellite dubbed “Starlink 44”. The incident took place 320 kilometers above Earth as the two orbital paths of the two vehicles intercepted each other. Aeolus returned to its operational orbit after the maneuver.
According to Holger Krag, head of the Space Debris Office at ESA, the risk of collision between the two satellites was 1 in 1,000 – ten times higher than the threshold that requires a collision avoidance maneuver. However, despite Aeolus occupying this region of space nine months before Starlink 44, SpaceX declined to move their satellite after the two were alerted to the impact risk by the U.S. military, who monitor space traffic.
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SpaceX has so far remained tight-lipped on how it will handle the growing concerns around its Starlink constellation, including collision avoidance maneuvers and concerns from the astronomy community. As for this most recent incident, Krag and his team just hope that SpaceX will be more responsive in the future, so that situations can be avoided when more Starlink satellites are launched, and more stringent rules are put in place.
“We are not upset by them saying [they wouldn’t move],” says Krag. “My concern is how often will we have such events in the future? These are just two satellites. Now they will add several thousand, and they will also be disposed and end up at various altitudes. And there’s no rule or law on how to react, it’s all goodwill.
“What I want is an organized way of doing space traffic. It must be clear when you have such a situation who has to react. And of course automating the system. It cannot be when we have 10,000 satellites in space that there are operators writing the email what to do. This is not how I imagine modern spaceflight.”..