New threats from China to the U.S. have emerged concerning the recent space race between the two countries. The Chinese space program has more than doubled in advancements in the last five years. The U.S. is starting to develop new technology in hopes of countering the new Chinese advancements. The United Launch Alliance's factory in Alabama has been working on defenses against Chinese technology such as new satellites that are capable of using a robotic arm to grab onto American satellites and throw them out of the set orbit. This would mean that China could disable crucial American communications satellites. Americans fear that the Chinese government will gain intelligence from the American satellites that are actively in orbit. China is now taking the lead in this Chinese-American space race, not only in space, but in the sky above us as well. China has developed and put spy balloons and hypersonic missiles into use. According to Dean Shang, China is militarily almost equivalent to the U.S. and could “give us a real good run for our money” in a conflict.
Another advancement made by the Chinese is the use of cyber attacks to be able to remotely control American spacecrafts and satellites. This could be used to program satellites to go out of orbit and make them crash into the Earth, costing the U.S. billions of dollars. Another way the Chinese can use these cyber attacks is to delay American missile defense systems and cause them to not send a report when a missile from China is launched. This could be devastating to the Americans and allow the Chinese to be able to launch a large attack without the Americans even knowing. U.S. officials have already stated that China can do all of these things and also be able to launch their own refueler into space, meaning that they will be able to keep their satellites in space for longer than they have previously. Officials believe that the U.S. could still be months away from reaching this technology that the Chinese are currently using.
The most concerning part for the Americans is that China launched a hypersonic missile with the capability of orbiting the globe multiple times, then suddenly falling to Earth before the large majority of missile defense systems can identify it and respond. The U.S. is still studying these technologies and trying to figure out how they can replicate it for themselves, as this is still a recent advancement for China. The U.S. believes that lasers are the best option to counter China’s new technology due to the fact that it would be impossible for them to be able to “outmaneuver” a laser that is traveling at the speed of light.
Some are speculating that China’s space program and military program are linked together in this space race, and that China plans to use these anti-satellite weapons and other weapons to take control over the orbit around Earth. Some go as far to believe that China plans to use “space nukes” as means to take over space. In November, a 721 page report was released by the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, a congressional advisory body, concluded that China’s lasting attempts to create a space-based nuclear weapon “has the potential to threaten the U.S. homeland with a new global strike capability.” (It’s largely believed that Beijing has been designing a vehicle for a weapon like this for multiple years.) In response to this, the U.S. has been hoping to develop a nuclear powered rocket, but as of now, there has been no clear indicators on whether they have even attempted it yet or not.