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The press kit for the first Falcon 9 Starlink launch and deployment of the first 60 satllites scheduled for May 15, 2019 says:

Starlink satellites are capable of tracking on-orbit debris and autonomously avoiding collision.

How can a small satellite "track" on-orbit debris? Instead, might they really mean keep track of the debris by using a regularly uplinked ephemeris?

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Per a tweet from a reporter on the SpaceX media conference prior to launch, Musk declared:

Starlink satellites "automatically maneuver around any orbital debris. We upload the NORAD tracking information" and use it to dodge any collisions.

If this is correct, the satellites do not do any independent sensing (no telescopes or such). But they will use the uploaded data to predict possible interactions and (independently) maneuver when useful.

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    $\begingroup$ Doing an search on $N \times (N-1) \approx N^2$ pairs for all conjunctions is a big job, but each satellite only needs to compute $N \times 1 \approx N$ pairs. I think this is extremely cool; solar-powered distributed computng conjunction calculations! Algorithmic methods or techniques to find conjunctions in high N Keplerian element ensembles? $\endgroup$
    – uhoh
    May 17, 2019 at 22:53
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    $\begingroup$ @uhoh each satellite needs to compare only debris of about the same height but not in much lower or higher circular orbits, Of course all debris in elliptic orbits crossing the sats height, $\endgroup$
    – Uwe
    Jun 20, 2020 at 15:58

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