In December 2021, China filed a complaint with the United Nations, claiming that two of Musk's Starlink satellites had nearly collided with the Tianhe module of its Tiangong Space Station -- in April and October of 2021-- and that Chinese astronauts had been forced to maneuver the module of the station to avoid the collision. Starlink is part of Elon Musk's SpaceX and the satellites are part of a plan to make internet coverage from the satellites available worldwide, with the goal of launching nearly 12,000 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit.

Space is becoming crowded and risks of collision -- whether with satellites or space debris -- are not new. Tellingly, China was among the first to help create much of that debris: In January 2007, China tested its first successful anti-satellite missile (ASAT), destroying one of its own inactive weather satellites and creating one of the world's largest space debris incidents. That space debris is still floating around in space, causing collision risks every day.

The United States rejected China's claims that the Starlink satellites had endangered China's space station. The US stated that if there had been a "significant probability of collision" with China's space station, the U.S. would have given notice to China ahead of time. "Because the activities did not meet the threshold of established emergency collision criteria, emergency notifications were not warranted in either case."

China is now taking things a step further: Chinese military researchers are threatening that Musk's Starlink satellites must be destroyed. The problem, however, does not appear so much to be the fear of collision, but rather that China believes that Starlink could be used for military purposes and thereby threaten what China calls its national security.