A team of researchers in China has claimed that a recent near-miss between a Chinese satellite and one of SpaceX’s Starlink devices was behind the US company’s decision to move more than 4,000 of its satellites into lower orbit.
The two satellites passed within about 200 metres (656 feet) of each other on December 10, shortly after a launch from northwestern China, according to a social media post last month by Michael Nicolls, SpaceX’s vice-president of engineering.
Three weeks later, in…