SpaceX and CAS Space Report Near-Collision of Satellites

A Starlink satellite nearly collided with a Chinese spacecraft on December 9, 2025, according to reports from Space Exploration Technologies Corp. The two objects came within 200 meters of each other at an altitude of 560 km. The incident involved one of nine satellites launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center via a Kinetica 1 rocket.

Michael Nicolls, Vice President of Starlink Engineering at SpaceX, attributed the close approach to a lack of coordination and data sharing between satellite operators. He stated that the risk in space operations stems from this lack of communication and that establishing data sharing is critical to preventing future incidents.

CAS Space, the firm operating the launch center, responded by noting that the event occurred nearly 48 hours after payload separation, meaning the launch mission had already concluded. The company defended its safety protocols, stating it uses ground-based space awareness systems to avoid collisions with known debris and satellites. CAS Space expressed a willingness to coordinate with other operators to re-establish collaborations between the two New Space ecosystems.