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Posted on 10/03/2013 4:29:19 PM PDT by James C. Bennett
Last week, China tested out a satellite that's capable of grabbing and capturing other satellites as they orbit the Earth. This normally wouldn't be such a big deal, except that it amounts to China conducting a weapons test in space. And that's worrisome—especially to the Pentagon.
So what's up with this space weapons test? First of all, we're not diving into a Star Trek-like future any time soon—at face value, the Chinese satellite test sounds rather benign. Experts are unclear about how exactly the test went down, but it's pretty clear that a satellite with a moveable arm reached out to grab another satellite, and then reeled it in. No bombs, no guns, no lasers, no nothing.
What worries the Pentagon is the fact that this represents significant progress in China's space warfare program. Officials suspect that it's a test of China's ASAT (anti-satellite) strategies. The last time we saw a Chinese ASAT test was in 2007, when they blew up an orbiting satellite with a missile. This created all kinds of space debris, which continues to be a problem for every country with a space program. However, this new grab-and-capture technique would bypass the issue of debris, should China ever wanted to disable another country's satellite. Even worse, the grappling arm could be used to manipulate an orbiting satellite without its owner even knowing.
For all intents and purposes, this little test isn't going to start a war. But it is giving some Pentagon officials a few new things to add to their to-do list. If China is testing weaponized satellites today, they could be using weaponized satellites tomorrow.
Are we sure it was China that launched this and not SPECTRE? Better start looking around at any suspicious looking “volcanoes”.
LOL, my first thought.
the answer is patent, obvious
China is practicing satellite warfare so that China will be really good at satellite warfare when it decides satellite warfare is in its interest
that was easy. too easy.
I’m thinking of trying my hand at marital advice next...
(I need a challenge to keep me awake...)
They are trying to expand global influence. They are doing great at ti economically, their military at the very least is achieving dominance in the seas around SE Asia and now they are achieving a sort of digital dominance.
They need to equip their satellite with a broom and dustpan so it can sweep up the remains of their older satellites.
They could charge a fee to clean up other countries dead satellites.
Everybody wins.
(I can dream, can’t I ?)
“Open Crater.”
Because Clinton gave them the baseline technology back in the ‘90s?
“If China is testing weaponized satellites today, they could be using weaponized satellites tomorrow.”
Russia and the U.S. have had weaponized satellites for 35 years.
On the economic front, China’s been pretty much buying up Africa, and they recently signed a bunch of trade deals with the ‘stans.
Their military is beefing up as well. Looks like they plan on being a global player for the foreseeable future.
I remember back in the late 90s reading threads about satellite warfare. One time one of our major comm satellites went down and everyone was convinced that it was China. It just fascinates me that we probably have such unbelievable shit up there, yet down hear we have such a piece of shit leader.
“it’s pretty clear that a satellite with a moveable arm reached out to grab another satellite, and then reeled it in.”
There are plenty of legitimate uses for this technology. The space shuttle had a robotic arm, with more capabilities. It’s likely a dual-use technology — weapon, and space tow truck.
The U.S. isn’t exactly sitting on its thumbs. The missions of our ultra-secret X37B robotic space vehicles are definitely military in purpose. There may be at least 2 of them operating in space right now. They land at Vandenberg automatically after very long missions — one was 15 months — and no one’s saying exactly what they’re doing. I’m guessing that they’re keeping a close eye on Chinese activities for one thing.
They probably think the same thing about the X-37B. Perhaps a simpler explanation for a satellite with a grappling arm is a robotic satellite servicer. Didn’t we use the Space Shuttle arm to service the Hubble? And we use an arm on the Space Station to dock supply ships as was recently done?
That said, it is something of which to take note. Further, we should take note that they have an active space program and just look at us. Why are we giving them the high ground. Clavius Base, stat!
With helicopters buzzing around and cargo vessels named Ning-Po(?) with drastically changing waterlines overnight.
A fun movie despite its problems to me anyway.
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