Sun Zhibin says robotic thruster could latch onto unidentified object approaching critical Chinese space infrastructure and push it away. — SCMP
China is developing a rapid-response space defence system to intercept suspicious spacecraft and push them away, according to a senior scientist.
If an unidentified object approaches China’s Tiangong space station or other critical space infrastructure, a small robotic thruster could be deployed to latch onto the intruder and push it to a safer distance, said Sun Zhibin of the National Space Science Centre in Beijing.
“Sometimes another spacecraft may deliberately come close – maybe just to take a look – but it can still interfere with our operations,” Sun said during a public talk on the technological progress and plans for Tiangong, at Nanjing University of Science and Technology on Tuesday.
“In such cases, we first try to assess their intent. Then we choose how to respond – whether by dodging, adjusting our orbit, or releasing a small robot to grab and redirect the object,” he said while answering questions from the audience.
In December 2021, China reported to the United Nations that its space station had to perform two evasive manoeuvres that year to avoid potential collisions with SpaceX’s Starlink satellites.
According to the submission, Starlink-1095 and Starlink-2305 descended from their usual 550km (342-mile) orbits and entered Tiangong’s operational zone around 380km, prompting emergency avoidance actions on July 1 and October 21.
Harvard astronomer and satellite tracker Jonathan McDowell confirmed the encounters using US space tracking data, estimating that the Starlink satellite might have come within just 3km in the October incident.
Both near-misses occurred while Tiangong was occupied – by the Shenzhou-12 crew in July and the Shenzhou-13 astronauts in October – at a time when the station was still under construction in low-Earth orbit.
China’s note to the UN said the events “constituted dangers to the life or health of astronauts aboard the China Space Station”. Under international law, states were responsible for all national space activities, including those conducted by commercial operators, it said.
The US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has also developed related technologies. One of its ongoing programmes, which aims to build robotic systems capable of inspecting and servicing satellites in geostationary orbit, could be adapted to approach or manipulate other spacecraft.
China’s pursuit of in-orbit defence capabilities comes amid heightened global focus on space security. In the US, President Donald Trump recently proposed a space-based missile shield known as the “Golden Dome” – a US$175bil initiative aimed at intercepting threats such as hypersonic weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Golden Dome project, which explicitly identifies China as a key concern, reflects a broader shift towards viewing space as a contested domain and highlights a shared priority among space powers to protect their critical assets in orbit. – South China Morning Post
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