Posted on 02/21/2022 10:59:46 AM PST by SunkenCiv
...The Chinese SJ-21 satellite was seen on January 22 changing its usual place in the sky to approach decommissioned satellite Compass-G2. A few days later, SJ-21 attached to G2, altering its orbit.
Chinese officials haven't yet confirmed that the apparent space tug occurred.
Over the course of the next few days, the spacecraft couple started dancing westward, ExoAnalytic's video footage showed. By January 26, the two satellites separated, and G2 was kicked into oblivion.
The Compass-G2, or BeiDou-2 G2, is a spacecraft from China's BeiDou-2 Navigation Satellite System that failed shortly after launching in 2009. For more than 10 years, the metal carcass has been wandering around Earth alongside millions of other pieces of space trash.
SJ-21, which launched in October 2021, has now returned to a geostationary orbit (GEO) just above the Congo Basin. GEO happens when a satellite orbits Earth over the equator at the same speed the planet rotates...
James Dickinson, commander of the US Space Command said in April 2021 that technology like China's SJ-21 "could be used in a future system for grappling other satellites."
But is there a real threat?
In its 2021 counterspace report, the Secure World Foundation said that there is strong evidence that both China and Russia are working to develop technology with "counterspace capabilities" — the ability to destruct space systems.
(Excerpt) Read more at dw.com ...
Recently, China lied about near-collisions between a couple of SpaceX' and China's birds. Russia made a stink about SpaceX' craft doing autonomous docking with the ISS, which is ridiculous, but has been pretty quiet about that and other things after a long-delayed (by years) module arrived last year and nearly destroyed the ISS (although of course the spineless lefties spun it differently from the actual physical spin of the ISS caused by the Russian space trash).
Haaahahahahaaaa! The plan is working!
Sounds like a proof of concept field test.
I would make a guess it was 1958 or around then that this was on the cover of a science fiction magazine. Along with the space prospectors in the asteroid belt.
“Is China’s space debris dangerous?” No more dangerous than US space debris or any other country’s.
Where was it thrown away and what day is space garbage pick up?
I concur.
I imagine it could drive up and supersync an operational one just as easy.
Not SciFi - tugs are a business opportunity
The Chinese have the same reckless disregard for humans on Earth as they do for Chinese on Earth.
https://www.businessinsider.com/iss-swerves-avoid-debris-chinese-satellite-space-junk-2021-11
https://www.reddit.com/r/space/comments/16mlt2/chinas_space_disaster_video_on_march_14_1996_a/
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/chinese-rocket-crash-land-nasa-b1844514.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelsat_708
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_Q6azI6Ocs
Just be careful googling “tugs” and “business” in the same search line...
All space debris is destined by laws of physics to enter earth’s atmosphere and burn up.
I saw this episode of “Space Force”; they had a chimpstronaut that ate the space dog and then got captured by a Chinese satellite. It was the only funny episode of that dismal show.
I thought of Adam Quark.
Operation Vacu-Suck!
One man’s space trash is another man’s satellite...
There was ASAT research by both the USSR and US by 1970, but I think there’s a treaty, and we know how effective those are. :^)
I thought of “Moon Raker”.
I thought of, “You Only Live Twice.”
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