HELSINKI — The People’s Liberation Army is working comprehensively on the technology and training tools for on-orbit satellite refueling for both peacetime and wartime scenarios.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) is already integrating lessons learned into military doctrine and training tools, while a defense contractor has already demonstrated what it calls a space fuel tanker in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO), according to a report published by the China Aerospace Studies Institute (CASI) March 18.
The report underlines that the PLA has a strategic focus on enhancing its on-orbit logistics capabilities and is integrating commercial enterprises into the space sector. These developments have potential implications for international space operations norms and should prompt action by the U.S. Space Force to attain similar capabilities and readiness.
The report details work by the PLA since 2018 to develop a computer simulation program for training military satellite operators in space-based refueling. This software aims to simulate the space environment and on-orbit service satellites for training, evaluation, and technology testing purposes.
Discussions on on-orbit satellite refueling and debris removal have been included in PLA textbooks since 2013, indicating an effort to normalize these missions within the PLA’s operations and to influence international norms regarding space operations.
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) has been promoting its satellite-refueling spacecraft since 2018. It successfully demonstrated its capabilities across late 2021 and early 2022 with Shijian-21. That mission saw the spacecraft dock with a defunct Beidou GNSS satellite in GEO and deliver it to a higher, so-called graveyard orbit.
The report seeks to assert that these capabilities could help the PLA sustain on-orbit space operations in wartime, an event deemed overlooked in comparison to a much-discussed, lower…
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