By 
September 27th, 2026
Image credit: CMG/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Elon Musk of Tesla and SpaceX fame and fortune advises that stronger coordination between the United States and China could avoid potential satellite collisions, one area for bilateral space cooperation.
Musk was interviewed last week by the China Media Group (CMG) in Silicon Valley, California.
“In space I think the most important thing to achieve cooperation with is to make sure that when satellites are launched from the U.S. or China that we closely coordinate what orbits the satellites are going to avoid a potential collision. I mean that’s the most important area of cooperation,” Musk said.
Full and rapid reusability
Achieving “full and rapid reusability of a rocket” is a critical task in space launch, Musk added, because the technology can help drastically lower the cost of space exploration.
“In general I would say that the important thing for space launch, the fundamental breakthrough that’s needed, is full and rapid reusability,” said Musk.
SpaceX is hoping to achieve catching the Starship, “hopefully around the end of next month and then re-flying the ship either later this year or early next year.”
That will be a very important breakthrough, Musk said, and he is sure others will solve the reusability problem as well. “I’m sure China will at some point solve that problem too. The full and rapid reusability of a rocket is the fundamental breakthrough needed to make life multiplanetary,” said Musk.
Image credit: SpaceX
Making life multiplanetary
Musk said that once human beings are able to build self-growing cities on other planets, their chances of surviving potential existential threats would be much greater.
“I can’t emphasize enough — and I’ve said this so many times over the years — full and immediate reusability of rockets, like aircraft, is the fundamental breakthrough that’s needed to extend life beyond Earth, to make life multiplanetary, and to create self-growing cities on the moon and Mars,” Musk told a CMG reporter, as posted by China Central Television (CCTV).
“And as soon as we are able to create a self-growing city on the Moon and Mars, the probable lifespan of consciousness is dramatically greater because now we don’t have all our eggs in one basket,” said Musk. Doing so, have human civilizations on the Earth, on the Moon and on Mars, “then our chances of surviving are much greater,” he said.
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