Elon Musk's satellites have pulled the wool over China's eyes

China claims that a satellite of the space company Starlink almost hit the Chinese space station twice. 

The CNET report from according to China has lodged a complaint with the United Nations because the Starlink satellites forced the Tiangong space station to perform two evasive manoeuvres. According to Chinese officials, the incidents took place on 1 July and 21 October, and the satellites were allegedly manoeuvring in space in a way that their movements could not be predicted.

In its complaint, China has called on the UN to remind the United States to respect the Outer Space Treaty. There is no information yet on how Elon Musk's company Starlink has responded to the allegations against it.

Elon Musk, the world's richest man, started building the Starlink satellite network to broadcast broadband internet to almost every corner of the planet, bringing fast internet service to countries where it has not been feasible (for geographical reasons, for example). Almost 1900 satellites have been launched so far, with plans to launch approximately a thousand more.

Although he did not provide details, Musk recently said on Twitter that the Starlink satellite constellation could be used to provide an internet network between Earth and Mars for future Mars missions. Of course, this will not happen just yet, but first the conditions for shorter-distance travel between the Earth and the Moon will have to be provided.