So Beijing has finally owned up to blasting one of their satellites out of orbit — althogh a foreign ministry spokesperson says that “the test is not targeted at any country and will not threaten any country.“
But space-tracker Sven Grahn, over on the FPSPACE list, is wondering why the Chinese bothered to hit the sat in the first place. After all, he notes, Beijing didn’t have to destroy its orbiter, in order to prove its satellite-killer worked.
The Chinese could have put up a a target satellite with a miss-distance indicator and then launched the ground-based interceptor to fly really close without destroying the target. But who would have noticed? US intelligence perhaps — but what could the US have said? “A Chinese missile came very close to a Chinese satellite!” So what would the general public say? They could say: “just another unsubstantiated accusation from the Pentagon!” The Chinese would not want to announce such a test. To prove that it was effective they would have had to release test data. They also want to keep up appearances that they only want to use space for peaceful purposes.
So, the Chinese decide to really hit a satellite and create a huge cloud of debris. The U.S. detects the intercept and releases the [debris information], provid[ing] the general public with hard evidence that the test really occurred. This raised the credibility of the U.S. And the Chinese are happy because the message they wanted to send to the world has gotten out — loud and clear.
This sort of subterfuge is one of several reasons why Joe Buff thinks that the anti-satellite (ASAT) test wasn’t just some rogue operation — it was authorized from the top. President Hu Jintao “is head of state, commander in chief, and General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party all rolled into one,” Buff reminds us. “The People’s Liberation Army makes sure that the CCP stays in total control of the nation. The General Political Department of the PLA [People’s Liberation Army] has commissars everywhere who make sure the armed forces stay absolutely loyal to the Party. So no way was Mr. Hu clueless on any front in this ASAT brouhaha.“
This isn’t China’s only space controversy, long-time satellite-watcher Peter Brown notes in a fascinating piece for the Washington Times. “The loss of another Chinese satellite in early November is causing headaches as well, something that China would prefer to keep quiet.”
This involved a spanking new Chinese communications satellite, the largest ever built to date by China. Known as Sinosat-2, it was launched on October 29 and weighed more than 5 tons. In a matter of days, however, any celebrating ended rather abruptly. Sinosat-2 suffered a complete failure and soon was hurtling back into the earth’s atmosphere…
Despite initial reports that Sinosat-2 was experiencing problems, Chinese space officials elected to remain silent for two weeks or more — until late November — until accounts of this Chinese satellite in distress began appearing in the Asian press…
Why was China reluctant to admit that Sinosat-2 was in serious trouble? First, this satellite represented China’s first flight of its new Dongfanghong or DFH-4 spacecraft bus. Second, Sinosat-2 was the first of a new generation of jamming-resistant satellites created by China after satellite broadcasts were jammed in 2002. These incidents were characterized by the Chinese government as deliberate acts of sabotage carried out by the outlawed Falun Gong involving a satellite known as Sinosat-1.
ALSO:
* China Tests Satellite Killer?
* China Space Attack: Unstoppable
* Beijing’s Next-Gen Sat Strike
* Satellite Killer’s Big Impact
* Why Did China Smack the Sat?
* Who Ordered the Satellite Strike?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
One reason that the US may oppose banning weapons in space is because we already *have* nuclear weapons in space, in the form of the Ajax Project: http://www.WebFeats.com/EOD/
Why do people not see China has the massive, growing threat they are? Are people really that infatuated with cheap electronics, and other consumer goods that they are willing to overlook the fact that by buying goods from China they are enabling this massive Communist country to expand it’s military capability? During the Cold War we would could not have comprehended buying things made in the Soviet Union. So what changed? Not only are we giving China the cash flow to build up their military, but we are also enabling China to build more factories that can be used to build military goods.
My point is, that as long as we continue to support China, we will continue to read about how China has even more capability in space, and is more of a threat to the West, both economically, and militarily.
Seems pretty obvious to me that this was no rouge operation. Way too many people are just trying to read incredibly complex and incredibly stupid theories into why our peaceful Chinese friends would do such a thing. Why do it? Just to let the US know they can, thats all. And if they can get
spineless US leaders into making treaties which only the US would observe, it would obviously give the Chinese ( and the Russians who have also been calling for the same thing)the long term advantage. Its along the same lines as banning handguns, only lawabiding citizens will follow such a law, a criminal does not care since they already break the law. I am not sure when we are going to see that we did not treat communist russia this way, and thats why we eventually defeated it. The Chinese version of Communism is much wiser because it has allowed some free trade and made itself one of the best places in the world to make money right now. No one could seriously think that by empowering your enemy you will be able to defeat him in an easier manner.
We are only encouraging China by allowing them to prosper in spite of their innately Anti-American
method of government. It could well be our undoing unless we wake up before the Red Dragon burns us into nothingness.
>Way too many people are just trying to read incredibly complex and incredibly stupid theories >into why our peaceful Chinese friends would do such a thing.
Clintonist? Chinese covert Internet propaganda agent? Peaceful? How many wars and disputes have China engaged after WWII? What about Tibet, East Turkistan, Inner Mongul, Manchuria, Taiwan, Spartley islands, Senkaku island; war with USSR, Vietnam, and India? We know China is also evil imperialist of their own. They have strategy of “strategic boundries” claiming waters beyond Australia belonging to them. They attempted to politically colonize Japan and Australia, and pumped money for pro-Chinese parties around the world. They were even spotted for fueling money to a government setup fake pro-China Communist Party in Europe decades ago. If they were peaceful, they wouldn’t want a military in the first place.
Pedestrian, I apologise if my sarcasm wasnt strong enough, I consider the Chinese to be one of America’s worst enemies. Sorry if I didnt make that clear.
Okay, so they have “Star Wars” capability and we don’t?
Lol we have had this capability since the 80s