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China and U.S. take initial steps toward space-traffic coordination
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SpaceNews
SYDNEY, Australia – Yesterday, the China National Space Agency (CNSA) contacted NASA about a potential on-orbit collision.
The CNSA message read, “We would like to recommend you hold still and we’ll do the maneuver,” Alvin Drew, NASA Space Sustainability director and former astronaut, said Oct. 2 at a panel on space sustainability at the International Astronautical Congress here.
“SpaceX also has been contacted by a Chinese constellation.”Recent action by CNSA and commercial satellite operators to discuss spacecraft maneuvers “tells me there is a coordinated signal coming from someone in China,” Drew said.
Chinese companies plan to establish the 13,000-satellite Guowang internet-of-things constellation and the 15,000-satellites Qianfan or Thousand Sails broadband constellation.
“Although we’re making progress, for years our ability to communicate with the Chinese National Space Agency has been extremely crude,” Drew said.