Issue 82

25 Sep 2023: Carlos Alatorre authored a piece in The Space Review, in which he highlights the potential counterspace capabilities of China’s Spaceplane program. Highlights below.

– A co-orbital ASAT refers to a type of kinetic physical counter-space weapon. Kinetic physical counter-space weapons require a projectile or another orbiting object to disrupt the targeted satellite. Co-orbital ASATs require the ability to adjust their orbits to move close to their targeted satellites. Within a close distance, a co-orbital ASAT could disrupt, damage, or destroy the satellite through various means.

– In December 2021, China’s Shijian-21 (SJ-21) satellite managed to dock with Compass G2, a malfunctioning Beidou satellite, and used a robotic arm to drag Compass into a graveyard orbit above geosynchronous orbit (GEO). The SJ-21 released Compass and returned to its original orbit. This is considered China’s first complete co-orbital ASAT test intended to dispose of a defunct satellite.

– An advantage of spaceplanes is that they are capable of both space and atmospheric flight and can launch vertically using a rocket or horizontally from a carrier airplane. Interestingly, China’s experimental spaceplanes, known as the Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi (CSSHQ), look very similar to the US X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV).

– According to tracking data from the US Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron (18 SDS), after two months in low Earth orbit (LEO), China’s spaceplane raised its orbit and released an object that conducted co-orbital maneuvers.

– LeoLabs, confirmed evidence that Shenlong and the mystery object, labeled Object J, conducted a series of RPOs and at least two capture/docking operations, occurring between November to December 2022 and again in January 2023.

– According to the space program white paper released in January 2022, the Chinese government intends to “defend national security, [and] lead self-reliance and self-improvement efforts in science and technology.”

– The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) views space as a military domain and considers China to be in a space race with the US. Because space is a military domain, China is developing counter-space capabilities to “deny and degrade a potential adversary [the]use of space.”

-The PLA has stated space is a critical component for “informatized warfare”, which refers to the use of information-based systems to manage and speed up battlespace decision-making during a conflict. According to the PLA, capturing or destroying adversary satellites would degrade a military’s capabilities with precision-guided munitions.