Study says US spy satellites approaching China’s high-value space assets a ‘threat to security’
- Chinese researcher says US Air Force’s GSSAP satellites repeatedly approached some of China’s satellites in geostationary orbit in 2020-21
- Study suggests China must hasten development of a situational awareness network that integrates space and ground-based sensors
From February 2020 to December 2021 the US Air Force’s Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Programme (GSSAP) satellites repeatedly approached some of China’s most valuable and advanced satellites in the geostationary orbit (GEO) and came alarmingly close, according to the study.
“The frequent close approaches of the GSSAP satellite to Chinese high-value space assets pose a serious threat to their security,” said the team led by researcher Cai Sheng of the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics. Their paper was published in the Chinese-language journal Infrared and Laser Engineering last month.
“In a series of space attack and defence technology tests, the US military has revealed their ability and intention to disrupt China’s use of space.”
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Close encounters in space are usually kept secret because the military may view such information as sensitive or classified, and disclosing it could potentially reveal their own abilities or vulnerabilities to other countries, according to a Beijing-based space scientist who was not involved in the study.
“Disclosing such incidents could potentially escalate tensions between countries and lead to diplomatic or even military conflicts,” said the scientist who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.