The movement of satellites thousands of kilometres above Earth has started to look less like routine science and more a preparation for conflict. In recent years, China has been quietly building tools, strategies and a mindset to compete with and possibly overtake the United States in space.
Both countries are preparing for a future where space could become a battlefield.
Military thinkers in China and the US have noted that space is no longer just a support system for communication, navigation, and weather forecasting but has become another battleground.
As reported by Financial Times, China’s approach to conflict is shaped by one core idea: control space, and one can control what happens on Earth. Several textbooks for Chinese military officers and papers by scholars linked to the People’s Liberation Army were reviewed by the aforementioned outlet, which found that they see space systems as the “central nervous system” of modern warfare.
If the satellites of an enemy nation are destroyed, it would result in the collapse of their communications, surveillance, navigation and even the financial systems.
Due to this, China is very much focused on ways to disable or control an opponent’s satellites rather than immediately destroying them. This includes technologies like robotic arms that can capture satellites, systems that can tow them into distant “graveyard orbits”, and tools for jamming or hacking signals. These methods are designed to “paralyse” an enemy without triggering a full-fledged war on the ground.
China has already demonstrated some of its capabilities in the past few years. In January 2022, a Chinese satellite, named Shijian-21, was tested to remove debris using a robotic arm. It successfully removed a defunct Beidou navigation satellite into graveyard orbit.
In other instances, Chinese satellites have performed close-range manoeuvres, which the US has classed as “dogfighting in space.” These actions showed that China is mastering “proximity operations”, which can be used for both repair and attack, and this has alarmed the US.
Another area where China is pushing forward is surveillance. The country has developed satellites capable of continuously monitoring Earth. This allows them to track military movements. At the same time, they are expanding their satellite numbers. They plan to deploy thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit in the coming years.
As for the US, they are also not standing still. The country has increased its investment in space defence. Its Space Force now treats space as an active military domain and is developing its own counterspace technologies.