![]() 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. 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." officials have expressed worry over Chinese trash disposal satellites like the SJ-21. However, despite the seeming ubiquity of efforts to develop and implement space junk disposal technology, some U.S. The European Space Agency plans to launch its own trash removal mission in 2025. Japan launched its ELSA-d mission in March 2021, designed to test space debris capturing and removal technologies. There's nothing wrong with throwing out the trash - many other countries have launched or are currently developing technologies to clear space junk. China's space tug: A service or a threat? Less than two decades later, the first geostationary satellite was launched. He popularized the idea of GEO in a 1945 paper promising to revolutionize telecommunications. This type of orbit is sometimes called a Clarke orbit, named after British sci-fi writer Arthur C. GEO happens when a satellite orbits Earth over the equator at the same speed the planet rotates.įrom the Earth's point of view, satellites in GEO seem to be standing still, barring a wobble or two. SJ-21, which launched in October 2021, has now returned to a geostationary orbit (GEO) just above the Congo Basin. For more than 10 years, the metal carcass has been wandering around Earth alongside millions of other pieces of space trash. 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. ![]() By January 26, the two satellites separated, and G2 was kicked into oblivion. Over the course of the next few days, the spacecraft couple started dancing westward, ExoAnalytic's video footage showed. A few days later, SJ-21 attached to G2, altering its orbit.Ĭhinese officials haven't yet confirmed that the apparent space tug occurred. The Chinese SJ-21 satellite was seen on January 22 changing its usual place in the sky to approach decommissioned satellite Compass-G2. company that tracks the position of satellites using a large global network of optic telescopes. Flewelling is the chief space situational awareness architect of ExoAnalytic Solutions, a private U.S. Brien Flewelling in a webinar hosted by the Center of Strategic and International Studies and Secure World Foundation last month. Something out of a Star Wars movie occurred in Earth's orbit last month.Ī Chinese satellite was spotted in late January grabbing another long-dead satellite and days later throwing it into a "graveyard" orbit 300 km away, where objects are less likely to hit spacecraft.
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