CNN Video(CNN) - In the first incident of its kind, a European Space Agency (ESA) satellite was forced to perform an evasive maneuver Monday to avoid hitting a SpaceX spacecraft.
The ESA Aeolus Earth observation satellite fired its thrusters as part of a "collision avoidance maneuver," according to a statement from ESA.
ESA contacted Starlink, which said it did not plan to move its satellite, according to the statement, so the ESA team decided to increase the altitude of its Aeolus satellite to avoid a collision.
"It is very rare to perform collision avoidance manoeuvres with active satellites," said ESA in a tweet.
The trade-off for increased satellite traffic in space will be low-cost internet for a significant portion of the world's population that isn't yet online, according to SpaceX.