China is testing increasingly sophisticated spacecraft capable of pursuing, approaching and manipulating other satellites, while the United States is building systems designed to protect its orbital assets and disrupt those of an adversary as the two powers prepare for the possibility of conflict extending into space.
A secretive Chinese unmanned spaceplane released a small satellite in June that later looped around another Chinese spacecraft before moving back toward the spaceplane, according to Reuters. The news agency also found patent documents, procurement notices and academic research showing Chinese institutions linked to the military pursuing technologies for chasing and potentially capturing spacecraft, as well as extending their operating lives through in-orbit refueling.
