Elon Musk fought back criticizing his company’s Starlink satellite as Take up too much space in space, But think that there may be space for “tens of billions” of spacecraft in orbit close to the earth.

In an interview with the Financial Times, his comments were in response to the statement made by the European Space Agency Director Josef Aschbacher that Musk is “Make rules” For the new commercial space economy.

China complain It was told to the United Nations this month that the two Starlink satellites had forced the Chinese Space Station to take “preventive collision avoidance control” measures in October and July to “ensure the safety and lives of astronauts in orbit.”

But refusing to accept his suggestion to “squeeze out” future satellite competitors, Musk compared the number of low-Earth orbit satellites with what he said were 2 billion cars and trucks on the earth.

“A few thousand satellites are nothing,” Musk said. “It’s like, hey, there are thousands of cars on earth-nothing.”

Musk’s private space company SpaceX has launched nearly 2,000 satellites for its Starlink broadband communications network, and plans to launch tens of thousands more.

Some experts questioned Musk’s claim that low-Earth orbit satellites can safely match the density of cars and trucks on the planet.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said that if a collision is possible, a spacecraft flying at 17,000 miles per hour would need to be more spaced than a car. Take time to adjust their tracks.

Three other stories in the news

1. Japanese Prime Minister’s visit to Australia is safe talks Fumio Kishida will meet his Australian counterpart Scott Morrison next week Discuss the defense and security of the Indo-Pacific region and China’s growing military ambitions in the region. The leaders of the two countries are expected to sign the landmark security treaty agreed by the two countries in November.

2. Hong Kong Democracy News website Stand News shuts down Hong Kong’s leading democratic news media said it will be closed after the National Security Police raided its headquarters. Arrested seven people, Including current and former senior managers, for conspiring to “publish inflammatory” materials.

Media Group will spend more than 100 billion U.S. dollars on new content The top eight media groups in the U.S. plan to spend more than $100 billion New movies and TV shows The video streaming business will be pursued next year, but most people are losing money. The investment is planned because of concerns that after the 2020 and 2021 pandemic-driven growth, it will be more difficult to attract new customers in 2022.

Coronavirus Digest

• This World Health Organization According to reports, some countries including France and the United States have warned that there will be a “tsunami of cases” of Covid-19 around the world. Record-breaking infection count.

• Boris Johnson’s Calls for a “cautious” New Year celebration in England are being affected by supply issues Lateral flow and PCR testing.

• long haul Air traffic It’s still quiet, with many large wide-body aircraft flying to intercontinental routes Sit idle.

• ChinaThe increase in coronavirus infections has caused Production suspension and delivery delay This may hinder the economy. (Nikkei Asia)

What are we still reading

Graphic of the year-meaning in 2021 From Covid charts to technical interpreters, we live in an era where more and more visual reports are captured. Graphics have language as rich and expressive as written text.Here are some This year’s best Selected by the data team of the British “Financial Times”.

What makes it work well? “Financial Times” employment columnist Sarah O’Connor recently asked her Twitter followers to tell her their favorite job and One thing in common Connect many of their stories.

Books to read in 2022 Book editor of the British “Financial Times” Choose their title In the coming year, we will look for well-known writers and some new names from the fields of fiction and non-fiction, poetry and business.

The most read job and career articles of the year

The pandemic has forced many people to work from home while taking care of the needs of family life, resulting in feeling overwhelmed and undervalued. In February, our work and career team asked Financial Times subscribers to share their views on these new mandatory work arrangements. More than 250 readers responded.