US Buzzes China's Military Satellites in Unfolding Space Rivalry
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Space Force and the Chinese Defense Ministry for comment.
The U.S. Space Force was established in 2019 during the first administration of President Donald Trump, who said American superiority in space was "absolutely vital." One of the missions of the new service branch is to protect and defend U.S. interests in space, including satellites.
China, which has several ambitious space programs, including a space station and a manned mission to the moon, was spotted using its satellites to conduct "dogfighting" maneuvers, the U.S. Space Force reported in March, practicing orbit operations from one satellite to another.
COMSPOC, which is a commercial provider of space situational awareness software in Pennsylvania, said USA 324, a U.S. Space Force Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP) satellite, was "checking out" two Chinese satellites recently.
The American satellite was tracked making two close passes to China's TJS-16 and TJS-17 satellites on April 26 and 29, with a distance of 10.5 miles and 7.4 miles, respectively. It was not immediately clear why the U.S. Space Force's satellite maneuvered around the targets.
USA 324, which was launched in January 2022, and other GSSAP satellites can track and observe objects in geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles above the equator, NASA said.
The U.S. Space Force said the GSSAP satellites support its space surveillance operations by conducting "Rendezvous and Proximity Operations," in which the satellites maneuver near a space object, enabling characterization for anomaly resolution and enhanced surveillance.
Meanwhile, the TJS-16 and TJS-17, which were launched into space on March 29 and April 10, respectively, are part of the Chinese satellite program Tongxin Jishu Shiyan, meaning "communication technology experiment," according to SpaceNews.
While China said both satellites were designed for satellite communication technology verification, SpaceNews said they were viewed by Western analysts as conducting classified missions, which included satellite inspection activities, to support the country's armed forces.
Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "To be clear, I do not object to [U.S. Space Force] making such maneuvers. I object to the U.S. complaining when other countries do the same things we are doing."
The U.S. Space Force said on its website: "GSSAP satellites collect space situational awareness data allowing for more accurate tracking and characterization of man-made orbiting objects. From a near-geosynchronous orbit, it has a clear, unobstructed and distinct vantage point for viewing Resident Space Objects (RSOs)."
It remains to be seen whether the American and Chinese military satellites will have further maneuvers around each other for close inspection and observation.
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