https://www.scmp.com/rss/523743/feed The latest news and top stories on US Space Force. A US-based military service branch, the US Space Force is dedicated to securing national interests in, from and to space. Its main areas of focus include organising, training and equipping space forces, conducting space operations and protecting US and allied interests in the space domain. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Ling Xin Ling Xin China has followed last year’s secretive high-orbit satellite-to-satellite refuelling test with another in-orbit servicing mission that is aimed at advancing docking and refuelling technologies, while also testing ways to speed up the disposal of satellites at the end of their usefulness. Hukeda-2, which lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the Gobi Desert on Monday, is China’s first commercial test satellite equipped with a flexible robotic arm to capture other spacecraft, the... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347156/can-china-commercial-satellites-octopus-tentacle-pass-low-orbit-refuel-test?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3347156/can-china-commercial-satellites-octopus-tentacle-pass-low-orbit-refuel-test?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 20 Mar 2026 01:00:13 +0000 Seong Hyeon Choi Seong Hyeon Choi The United States needs to go on the offensive in space to be able to “turn around and punch” back at China’s rapidly expanding surveillance satellite network, according to a US Space Force general. According to the US military news website The War Zone, Lieutenant General Gregory Gagnon said China had built “the second-best remote sensing architecture in the world from outer space”. He said China had expanded from fewer than 100 satellites in 2013, when Chinese President Xi Jinping first came... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3344873/us-must-be-able-turn-around-and-punch-space-china-boosts-satellites-general?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3344873/us-must-be-able-turn-around-and-punch-space-china-boosts-satellites-general?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:15:26 +0000 Liu Zhen,Zhao Ziwen Liu Zhen,Zhao Ziwen China’s Nantianmen Project – translated as Southern Celestial Gate – has captured widespread attention as a blend of science fiction storytelling and hi-tech military speculation. Launched in 2017 by a subsidiary of the state-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic), the project originated as an aviation-themed sci-fi intellectual property (IP) rather than an active weapons development programme. At its core, the project serves as a creative vehicle to showcase more than 100... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3343433/everything-we-know-about-chinas-mysterious-futuristic-nantianmen-project?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3343433/everything-we-know-about-chinas-mysterious-futuristic-nantianmen-project?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 17 Feb 2026 14:00:09 +0000 Vanessa Cai Vanessa Cai China has been urged to build dual-use satellite application systems to increase the military use of commercial technology. The appeal by researchers from a university affiliated with the Central Military Commission – China’s highest command body – comes as space technology developed by private firms is increasingly being used for military purposes. For example, the US military has stepped up its use of technology from Elon Musk’s Starlink network and other commercial satellite companies,... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3343762/why-china-being-urged-integrate-commercial-space-tech-military-systems?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3343762/why-china-being-urged-integrate-commercial-space-tech-military-systems?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Feb 2026 22:10:46 +0000 William Zheng William Zheng China on Saturday launched the latest mission of its reusable experimental spacecraft – a potential rival to the US Space Force’s X-37B. It was China’s fourth launch of such a prototype spacecraft since 2020, all of them conducted at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre using the Long March-2F carrier rocket. The official name and technical specifications of the spacecraft have yet to be announced, but Chinese space fans have dubbed it the Shenlong, or “Divine Dragon”. State news agency Xinhua... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342759/china-sends-fourth-shenlong-reusable-spacecraft-mission-orbit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3342759/china-sends-fourth-shenlong-reusable-spacecraft-mission-orbit?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Feb 2026 12:30:08 +0000 Ling Xin Ling Xin A team of researchers in China has claimed that a recent near-miss between a Chinese satellite and one of SpaceX’s Starlink devices was behind the US company’s decision to move more than 4,000 of its satellites into lower orbit. The two satellites passed within about 200 metres (656 feet) of each other on December 10, shortly after a launch from northwestern China, according to a social media post last month by Michael Nicolls, SpaceX’s vice-president of engineering. Three weeks later, in... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341360/chinese-satellite-forces-4400-its-starlink-rivals-lower-altitude-study?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3341360/chinese-satellite-forces-4400-its-starlink-rivals-lower-altitude-study?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 27 Jan 2026 14:00:11 +0000 Victoria Bela Victoria Bela SpaceX has announced it will reconfigure its Starlink internet satellite constellation by lowering the orbit of more than 4,400 satellites throughout 2026, shortly after Beijing said the project posed “safety and security challenges”. The move aims to relocate the satellites to orbital regions less crowded by space debris and other planned satellite constellations, reducing the risk of collisions and allowing satellites to deorbit faster. It comes after an unnamed representative from Beijing... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3338547/spacex-will-move-more-4400-satellites-lower-orbit-after-china-cited-safety-risk?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3338547/spacex-will-move-more-4400-satellites-lower-orbit-after-china-cited-safety-risk?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 02 Jan 2026 12:00:22 +0000 Mia Nurmamat Mia Nurmamat In 2003, a decade after the humiliation of the Yinhe incident – when a Chinese container ship was left stranded for weeks after the United States jammed its Global Positioning System (GPS) – Beijing set its sights on bypassing the American satellite network. At first, it turned to the European Union, pledging €230 million (then US$260 million) to join the Galileo project, an independent satellite navigation system designed to reduce Europe’s reliance on GPS. But the partnership did not last.... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3332333/china-has-big-ambitions-space-and-arctic-should-west-be-worried?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3332333/china-has-big-ambitions-space-and-arctic-should-west-be-worried?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Nov 2025 22:00:14 +0000 Bloomberg Bloomberg The US military is close to fielding two new weapons designed to temporally jam Chinese and Russian intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites, giving the Pentagon three counter-space capabilities, according to new Space Force data. The weapons, called Meadowlands and Remote Sensing Terminals, will join a larger and less mobile “Counter Communications System” jammer – an upgraded big dish that was declared operational in 2020. The fresh systems will be dispersed worldwide and... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3331538/us-space-force-use-3-weapons-jam-chinese-satellites-remote-control?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/united-states-canada/article/3331538/us-space-force-use-3-weapons-jam-chinese-satellites-remote-control?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 04 Nov 2025 17:16:33 +0000 Stephen Chen Stephen Chen China has deployed a working prototype of a global defence system similar to the United States’ proposed Golden Dome, while hailing a breakthrough in data processing technology for worldwide threat management, according to scientists involved in the project. Although the “distributed early warning detection big data platform” is still in its early stages of development, it can simultaneously monitor a thousand missiles fired at China from anywhere in the world, according to the developers. By... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3327224/china-fields-golden-dome-prototype?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3327224/china-fields-golden-dome-prototype?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 29 Sep 2025 22:00:08 +0000 Zhang Tong Zhang Tong In a notable display of reconnaissance capabilities, a Chinese satellite has observed an American satellite that was itself monitoring China’s space station and high-value satellite, a move analysts described as a strategic tit-for-tat in an increasingly contested space domain. China’s Jilin-1 satellite constellation, operated by Chang Guang Satellite Technology, seized a favourable orbital window on September 8 to capture four images of the WorldView Legion satellite from distances ranging... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3325624/us-satellite-spies-chinese-space-station-and-more-china-spies-back?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/science/article/3325624/us-satellite-spies-chinese-space-station-and-more-china-spies-back?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 15 Sep 2025 22:00:12 +0000 Liu Zhen Liu Zhen The new space race is heating up, with the United States warning that its major rival, China, is narrowing the gap as it makes rapid technological gains. While China says its ambitious plans remain peaceful and that it rejects the weaponisation of space, some of the technologies it has developed in recent years also have military uses. Here are some of them. BeiDou network The Chinese navigation satellite system provides positioning, navigation and timing services worldwide. Its network of 60... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3317258/china-making-rapid-gains-space-tech-heres-how-military-could-use-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/military/article/3317258/china-making-rapid-gains-space-tech-heres-how-military-could-use-it?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Jul 2025 14:00:09 +0000