Elon Musk's SpaceX 'close call' crash suddenly becomes much more mysterious

A narrowly-avoided collision between Elon Musk's SpaceX and OneWeb satellites that was widely reported last week did not take place, according to filings provided to the FCC by SpaceX. It was reported that SpaceX's satellite came within 60 meters of a OneWeb craft, but SpaceX claims that the actual miss distance was over 1,000 meters, which was "neither a'close call' [nor] 'urgent'". OneWeb's satellites operate at a 1,200 kilometer altitude, compared to SpaceX's 550 kilometers, meaning they must pass through Mr Musk's network as they ascend. OneWeb apparently contacted the SpaceX team, who disabled the Starlink satellite's collision avoidance system to allow OneWeb to pass through, according to OneWeb's government affairs chief Chris McLaughlin. However, SpaceX claims this is not the case, stating in FCC filings authored by the company's Director of Satellite Policy David Goldman, that "the probability of collision never exceeded the threshold for a maneuver, and the satellites would not have collided even if no maneuver had been conducted".