SpaceX satellite was on “collision course” until ESA satellite was re-routed

Enlarge / Illustration of the European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite. (credit: ESA)

The European Space Agency (ESA) yesterday took action to avoid a collision with a SpaceX broadband satellite after a bug in SpaceX's on-call paging system prevented the company from getting a crucial update.

"For the first time ever, ESA has performed a 'collision avoidance maneuver' to protect one of its satellites from colliding with a 'mega constellation,'" the ESA said on Twitter. The "mega constellation" ESA referred to is SpaceX's Starlink broadband system, which is in the early stages of deployment but could eventually include nearly 12,000 satellites.

Action had to be taken because the ESA's Aeolus satellite and a Starlink satellite were on a course that carried more than a 1-in-10,000 chance of a collision. According to the ESA, the Earth-observation satellite Aeolus "fired its thrusters, moving it off a collision course with a SpaceX satellite in their Starlink constellation."

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