SpaceX denies claim that Starlink and OneWeb satellites almost collided

Enlarge / A stack of 60 Starlink satellites launched in 2019. (credit: SpaceX / Flickr)

SpaceX has accused satellite-broadband rival OneWeb of spreading a false story claiming that the companies' satellites nearly crashed into each other.

In reality, "[t]he probability of collision never exceeded the threshold for a [collision-avoidance] maneuver, and the satellites would not have collided even if no maneuver had been conducted," SpaceX told the Federal Communications Commission in an ex parte filing. The filing describes a meeting that SpaceX and OneWeb representatives had with FCC staff yesterday in which SpaceX said it "corrected the record regarding recent press reports regarding physical coordination between SpaceX and OneWeb."

The meeting came one day after The Wall Street Journal published an article titled "Elon Musk's Satellite Internet Project Is Too Risky, Rivals Say." The Journal article described OneWeb's allegations as follows:

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