China’s space-based technology awed the world once again through their space satellite that grabs and pulls other satellites out of its orbits as observed this week by an analytics firm.
The Shijan-21 satellite of China moved away from its regular position in space while making a “large maneuver” as it moved closer to a dead satellite near its area, the BeiDou Navigation System. After the large maneuver, the SJ-12 was observed pulling the dead satellite out of its orbit and moving it about a hundred miles away to a “graveyard orbit” away from other satellites to prevent interference or collision.
Chinese satellite observed grappling and pulling another satellite out of its orbithttps://t.co/ibGLq2bjQe
— Fox News (@FoxNews) January 28, 2022
According to Chinese state media, the satellite was designed for “testing and verifying space debris mitigation technologies.” However, SJ-12’s ability in moving satellites around and pulling it away from its orbit is terrifying with its possibility of manipulating other nation’s satellites resting in their orbits.
“We continue to track SJ-21 and monitor it for conjunctions with all known space objects. The ability to maintain custody of SJ-21 after this large daytime maneuver is an important and unique capability of Exo’s commercial SSA network,” chief architect for space situational awareness (SSA) Brain Flewelling said during SJ-12’s video presentation in a webinar.
SJ-12’s maneuver is a part of On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) capabilities that both the U.S. and European nations also go after which falls under Space Command’s operation as one of vital factors in the future Artemis program, based on Aerospace America reports.
NASA technical lead for OSAM-2, Larry Huebner said from an interview that the Artemis program is “about sustained human presence on the moon and the ultimate goal of going to Mars.”
