China Executes Mysterious, Secret In-Orbit Satellite Rendezvous

Satellites may be docking together in orbit -- are they building Voltron?

By Clay Dillow Posted 08.31.2010 at 11:59 am 6 Comments

The Current Orbits of China's Six SJ-06 Series Satellites

Though the world found out about it through a Russian media outlet, China has been conducting complicated space maneuvers with two of its science satellites over the past few months, directing two of its "Shi Jian" (practice) satellites to rendezvous some 370 miles above the Earth, and possibly even touch. But the fact that China has been so hush-hush about the close encounter has some wondering what it plans to use such technology for. It could be used to build a peaceful space station, but also for interfering with other nations' satellites.

Russian space observer Igor Lissov first noticed the rendezvous buried in publicly available U.S. military data on global satellite positions. In turn it was picked up by Russian media -- and only then by Xinhua, China's state media outlet -- which brought it to the attention of the international community. The data show that between June 12 and August 16 of this year, Chinese satellite SJ-12, a science satellite launched in June, made a series of maneuvers to position itself closer to SJ-06F, an older science satellite launched in October of 2008.

The satellites ended up so close together that there's speculation that they may have even touched. SJ-06F experienced an anomaly in its orbit, shifting slightly on August 19 according to the U.S. military data. Natural external forces, like the Earth's atmospheric drag, could have caused the slight shift in the satellite's orbit, though that seems unlikely. It also could've been nudged by SJ-12, which at that point was orbiting very, very close to SJ-06F.

Orbital rendezvous, of course, is extremely complicated and demonstrates a broader technological know-how on the part of the Chinese. Outside of operations like docking with the space station, the U.S. has only undertaken the task a handful of times with two orbiting satellites. With China's first space station module, Tiangong-1 slated for launch next year, the test was likely a test of the nation's ability to dock two spacecraft in orbit.

But the fact that China didn't undertake the procedure transparently has some worried that the test might have been military in nature. Whether or not that's the case, China ain't saying. China and the U.S. have both been known to flex their military-space muscles before -- creating a good deal of dangerous space junk in the process -- so let's hope this kind of behavior doesn't set off a new round of power-posturing akin to the memorable, somewhat irresponsible "watch-me-blow-up-this-satellite" showdown of '07-'08.

[New Scientist, Space Review]

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6 Comments

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thor0997

08/31/10 at 12:36 pm

Reminds me of the Cold War a little.

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pheonix1012

08/31/10 at 2:06 pm

This is a prelude to a new cold war. China is the worlds largest rising economy which just reached number two status two weeks ago surpassing Japan. The Asian continent will be calling a few more shots in the international arena in the future, and they will be primarily supported by China as a leading diplomatic/industrial/militaristic force.

The future situation between the U.S. and China will be tenuous at best. The only true strategic ace in the hole for the U.S. is it's arms alliance with the world's number two rising economy in Asia (India; yes they are Asian too). I don't truly believe the 'fit will hit the shan' on this one, but it doesn't make things easier in the future between the two. It'll hopefully just keep the world from seeing a fourth conflict on a global/international scale (the Cold War is technically World War III).

On a more positive note, lucrative trade arrangement between the U.S. and China could improve for the future in a focus on the newly privatized aerospace market (Both nations just have to pull back on being uber-competitive, and China has to reach a point in which it's aerospace capabilities are not just state controlled; can we say economic reform? Time to drop the communist flag; Russia did). Humanity could make access to space much more efficient when the aerospace giants of the world come together in the one endeavor that has the greatest chance of uniting humanity while everything else continuously puts us on the warpath with each other.

"Welcome! to the Federation Starship SS Buttcrack!!!"

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Astromarine

08/31/10 at 3:35 pm

Is anyone here has read Titan, by Stephen Baxter, they'll find this quite disturbing too.

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johnt007871

08/31/10 at 5:19 pm

I'm pretty sure ending your posts with,

"Welcome! to the Federation Starship SS Buttcrack!!!"

voids all importance of your comment.

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fb36

08/31/10 at 9:33 pm

Maybe not to build Voltron, but I think this tech could be used to build a very large space telescope someday.

A telescope made of small identical segment satellites.
It could be made larger and larger but keep sending new segments to orbit.

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brandway

09/18/10 at 3:07 pm

It is obvious what they are doing. They are working on controlling in orbit satellites for military purposes. Think of the advantage of being able to control or destroy any countries satellites.

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