Elon Musk has denied that his Starlink satellite broadband project takes up too much space in orbit.

According to the Financial Times, “tens of billions” of satellites can be hosted in orbits near to Earth.

After the president of the European Space Agency (ESA) said that Mr Musk was “setting the rules” for the nascent commercial space industry, he responded.

China complained this week that it had to divert its space station to avoid colliding with Starlink satellites.

Mr Musk added in the interview, “Space is absolutely massive, and satellites are quite little.”

Mr Musk rebuffed claims that his Starlink Internet Services project was effectively preventing competitors from entering the satellite market, claiming that there is plenty of place for satellites in Earth’s orbit.

“This isn’t a case in which we’re obstructing people in any manner. We haven’t stopped anyone from doing anything, and we don’t intend to “he stated

“A few thousand satellites is insignificant. It’s like, oh, there’s a couple of thousand automobiles on Earth, what’s the big deal? “Added he.

ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher warned earlier this month that the hundreds of communications satellites deployed by Starlink will leave significantly less room for rivals.

Other specialists believe that significantly greater distances between spacecraft are required to avoid collisions than Mr Musk suggests.

Scientists have previously expressed alarm about the dangers of space collisions and urged global governments to exchange information about the estimated 30,000 satellites and other space junk orbiting Earth.

This week, Mr Musk made headlines after China protested that its space station was compelled to avert collisions with satellites launched by his Starlink project, prompting a social media reaction.

This year, Beijing claimed that the country’s space station had two “close encounters” with Starlink satellites.

According to a paper provided by China to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs earlier this month, the events happened on 1 July and 21 October.

“The China Space Station adopted preemptive collision avoidance control for safety considerations,” Beijing stated in a statement on the agency’s website.

The instances that prompted the allegations to the United Nations’ space agency have yet to be independently confirmed.

China also accused the US of endangering astronauts by failing to follow treaty responsibilities in outer space.

China is asking the US to act responsibly, according to Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhao Lijian.

As part of the Starlink network, SpaceX has already launched about 1,900 satellites and aims to launch thousands more.