China’s secretive spaceplane likely testing ‘dual use’ technology, experts say
SINGAPORE, July 25 (Reuters) – China’s shadowy, uncrewed reusable spacecraft, which launches atop a rocket booster and lands at a secretive military airfield, is most likely testing technology but could also be used for manipulating or retrieving satellites, experts say.
The spacecraft, on its third mission, was in June observed releasing an object, moving several kilometres away and then manoeuvring back to within a few hundred metres of it.
“It’s obvious that it has a military application, including, for example, closely inspecting objects of the enemy or disabling them,” said Marco Langbroek, a lecturer in optical space situational awareness at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands.
“But it also has non-military applications. Gaining experience with this kind of grab and release is good if you want to for instance … refuel your own satellites.”
As militaries worldwide develop complex satellite networks, a reusable spacecraft that can interfere with them could have immense value, Langbroek and three other experts said.
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Source: https://www.reuters.com/technology/space/chinas-secretive-spaceplane-likely-testing-dual-use-technology-experts-say-2024-07-25/