Experts have issued a chilling warning that China and the US could “destroy Earth’s orbit” with their space war.
The US Space Force announced that their Air Force will soon launch their secret X-37B space-plane onto its seventh mission. And experts warn that China is quickly catching up.
Experts reckon Beijing is developing missiles and satellites that can destroy the US’s own satellites. Handing them a potential advantage over Washington DC.
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However, the two nations risk damage to Earth in the process. Debris from destroyed satellites poses a risk to any spacecraft launched into orbit until the thousands of pieces burn up in the atmosphere.
The US Defense Department warned recently that the People’s Republic of China “continues to develop a variety of counter space capabilities designed to limit or prevent an adversary’s use of space during a crisis or conflict”.
The X-37B is essentially a miniature robotic version of the Space Shuttle, developed by NASDA, as reported by the Telegraph. The 29-foot-long plane is not a weapon.
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China has a similar mini-shuttle: the CSSHQ, derived from its designation “Chinese Re-usable Experimental Spacecraft”. The aircraft has been flown in two missions.
Experts speaking to the publication claim the US has the most military capabilities. But China is trying to catch up and has added hundreds of satellites in the last few years.
The Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, a Virginia think tank, projected China would have 200 anti-satellite satellites as early as 2026. During a major space war game two years ago, NPEC concluded the Chinese ASAT craft could quickly disable the roughly three dozen satellites that make up the American GPS system.
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The Pentagon said: “The PRC’s goal is to become a broad-based, fully capable space power”. After two decades of intensive space development, it’s probably inevitable China will achieve that goal.
“The future will all be proliferated,” said Derek Tournear, director of the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency. Warning the Pentagon could equip more spacecrafts with sensors to detect incoming attacks and if China attacks in Space, the US will counterattack.
Leaving orbit looking like a battleground with satellites and debris spinning out of control, colliding or exploding, scattering many thousands of pieces of destructive debris that could render space unusable by anyone – for decades.
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