Follow TIS on Twitter: @Truth_is_Scary & Like TIS of Facebook- facebook.com/TruthisScary © Corbis Unexplained satellite movements in orbit, secretive payloads, testing of potential anti-satellite technologies and no official explanation – this sounds like the plot of the next James Bond adventure. But this is no 007 movie, this is the storyline of several Chinese satellites that are raising eyebrows in the West. As reported by veteran space correspondent Leonard David at SPACE.com, no one really knows what China is up to and this has led to speculation in space analyst circles. The speculation is focused on the satellites Shiyan-7, Chuangxin-3 and Shijian-15, all of which were launched on the same Long March 4C (CZ-4C) rocket on July 20 (pictured top). The official word was that the trio carried science payloads. Nothing too strange with that. But then Shiyan-7 (also known as SY-7, or Experiment 7) recently carried out a series of maneuvers with Chuangxin-3 (CX-3) only for it to make a sudden course change to rendezvous with an older satellite, Shijian 7 (SJ-7, Practice 7), which was launched in 2005. At launch, one of the newest satellites was thought to be equipped with a robotic arm manipulator (although, at the time, space analysts did not know which one) and at the time the Chinese language press specifically mentioned “space debris observation,” “mechanical arm operations” and the testing of “space maintenance technologies,” according to Gregory Kulacki, a senior analyst and China project manager within the U.S.-based Union of Concerned Scientists’ Global Security Program. At face value, this could indicate that China is working on peaceful space debris mitigation technologies.
Read more about Mysterious Satellite Movements Raising Eyebrows: What is China Doing?
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