US Space Force chief John Raymond has told Japanese newspaper Nikkei that he is worried about China’s anti-satellite technologies. This technology could be a threat to the US military’s presence in space.
Raymond said that China is developing “everything from reversible jammers of our GPS system — which provides navigation and timing with precision— to jamming of communications satellites.”
“They’ve got missiles they can launch from the ground and destroy satellites,” he added. “I’m convinced that these capabilities that they’re developing would be utilized by them in their efforts in any potential conflict.”
Facing threats from China and Russia
Both China and Russia are the US’ biggest adversaries in space, and both are reportedly working on anti-satellite technologies. Since communications and GPS satellites are the keys to the military’s operations, military leaders are worried about the developments. With any of them taken down, any country would lose a tactical advantage.
Relations between the US and China have deteriorated during Trump’s presidency. The Space Force was formed under his leadership to gain dominance in space. The newest military arm faced a lot of flack that the Space Force suffers from unnecessary bureaucratic bloat.
Adversary nations not the only concern
Besides, adversary nations aren’t the only threat to satellites. The growing space debris in Earth’s orbit has also become a big concern. There were reports that a Chinese military satellite might have gotten hit by a disintegrated Russian rocket earlier this year. It is said to be the worst orbital collision since 2009. The collision shows the growing danger of space junk in Earth’s orbit, where they can collide with functional satellites.
ESA is working on getting rid of the space junk problem. The agency has announced its plans to launch a debris removal mission by 2025. It will be in collaboration with a Swiss startup called ClearSpace. The mission dubbed ClearSpace-1 will pack a four-armed robot to capture a Vega Secondary Payload Adapter (Vespa) left behind by the Vega launcher from ESA in 2013. The launcher is 100 kg heavy and is currently 800 km above Earth.
