Posted on 11/06/2021 3:52:32 PM PDT by devane617
Last month, China launched a satellite called Shijian-21, designed to test new ways to clean up space debris.
And this week, the US Space Force detected and catalogued a new object, suspected to be a rocket body designed to take satellites into a geostationary orbit called an apogee kick motor (AKM), SpaceNews reports.
But oddly enough, the object is still in geostationary orbit next to Shijian-21 — instead of maneuvering out of the way to make sure it doesn’t collide with other satellites, which is the usual protocol for AKMs.
The strange situation is raising more questions than answers. For one, we have no idea if the strange object is actually an AKM, or perhaps related to an entirely different kind of endeavor — and the Chinese space agency isn’t usually very up front with its activities in orbit, meaning that we may never find out.
It’s a precarious situation. World powers including Russia and China are testing anti-satellite technologies, leading to a new type of cold war. The ability to take out enemy satellites could offer a country’s military a substantive tactical advantage, but the risks would be immense.
That means military powers are keeping a very close eye on the movement of other world powers currently orbiting the Earth.
And there may already have been a couple of run-ins. Last week, Breaking Defense reported that a Chinese satellite was shadowing a US satellite, adjusting its orbit to keep up.
There’s a decent chance the purpose of the object trailing Shijian-21 will never be publicly revealed. And that has US forces on their toes. All we can do is hope that this kind of incident will never end up leading to an escalation.
(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
If only we had a Space Force to keep on top of these things.
It’s the Angry Alligator 🐊
🤪
(It’s the only one my phone has - looks like a crocodile)
And test new types of space "debris". One man's "debris" is another man's...
“Last week, Breaking Defense reported that a Chinese satellite was shadowing a US satellite, adjusting its orbit to keep up.”
Destroy it.
“designed to test new ways to clean up space debris.”
Yeah, right.
Musk. :)
Didn’t our Space Force Commander get fired recently for not being woke enough ?
Does it have a picture of Bill Clinton on it ?
Article says “we may never know why”
Oh, I’m sure we’ll find out.
From the government so concerned by what something “identifies as” they’re sure looking stupid.
To the Chinese American satellites “identify as” “space junk”
Where is a pic of the strange object ?
If only we had a Space Force to keep on top of these things.
***********
Sorry, a Wokeforce is needed for a more important mission. /sarc
One man's satellite is another man's "debris".
It’s Santa come early!
I recall Jerry Pournelle mentioning in one of his non-fiction books that we have had killer satellites since at least the late 70s. He was pretty matter of fact about it I recall, all they supposedly did was get close to another satellite and shoot it with a shotgun until it was rendered non-functional. I guess I just assumed it had progressed further since those days.
Freegards
It’s “The Satellite of Love”
This is rich. The Chinese have a satellite to clean up space? What about their own $hithole country and it’s pollution? I’d say that’s a killer satellite, but what do I know?
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