Its first successful mission took place in February 2020.
37
But beyond its official
commercial use, MEV represents a powerful ASAT system that could become
engaged in future military operations approaching and docking with enemy
satellites.
In 2010, the Russian press agency Interfax published the article Chinese
Satellites Inspect Each Other in Near-Earth Orbit, in which details of an abrupt
contact in orbit
38
between two Chinese satellites, SJ-12 and SH-06F,
39
were
reported. The press believed that it could either be considered an unsuccessful
rendezvous maneuver or, more likely, an antisatellite test. The Chinese space
agency was in fact testing docking techniques to be used in the building of a future
orbital station, but Beijing never made any official statements about the news.
In 2015, a Russian satellite named Luch
40
maneuvered for several weeks near
two US commercial satellites owned by the Washington-based Intelsat organization. Since the company is one of the largest satellite operators and the Pentagon’s
main provider for space-based communication services, the orbital maneuver represented a clear intimidation action. Three years later, French Defense Minister
Florence Parly publicly declared that Luch also approached a Franco-Italian military satellite to intercept its radio-communications.
41
In 2016, the Chinese Navy captured a US underwater drone that was officially
mapping the seabed of the South China Sea.
42
To do so, the Chinese employed
automatic robotic technology, which could soon be used in space as well.
In that same year, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
tested the new and powerful Long March 7 rocket, launching into space a small
satellite made by the Haibing Institute of Technology, Aolong-1,
43
whose mission
was the recovery of orbital debris with a special robotic arm. This type of technology has a clear dual use. On one side, it enables the docking and manipulation of
debris to clean outer space. On the other, it enables the capture of a satellite, just
like the submarine drone did under the sea.
Currently, this technological confrontation in space is conducted chiefly by the
US, China and Russia. Other spacefaring nations such as India and Japan are still
behind them, and Europe appears absent from this playground. Yet, the old continent is facing turmoil with the US decommitment from old Cold War logic, as
37
https://spacenews.com/northrop-grummans-mev-1-servicer-docks-with-intelsat-satellite/.
38
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19379-two-chinese-satellites-rendezvous-in-orbit/.
39
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/china-s-satellite-manoeuvres-draw-scrutiny-1.945272.
40
http://spacenews.com/russian-luch-satellite-relocates-next-to-another-intelsat-craft/.
41
France24 2018. « Paris accuse Moscou d’espionnage sur un satellite franco-italien ». https://
www.france24.com/fr/20180907-france-accuse-russie-espionnage-satellite-franco-italienathena-fidus-florence-parly.
42
New York Post. 2016. China’s navy seizes underwater US drone.
43
https://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/china/aolong.htm.
108 Battlestar Galactica: The Space Cyberwar of the Future
37
But beyond its official
commercial use, MEV represents a powerful ASAT system that could become
engaged in future military operations approaching and docking with enemy
satellites.
In 2010, the Russian press agency Interfax published the article Chinese
Satellites Inspect Each Other in Near-Earth Orbit, in which details of an abrupt
contact in orbit
38
between two Chinese satellites, SJ-12 and SH-06F,
39
were
reported. The press believed that it could either be considered an unsuccessful
rendezvous maneuver or, more likely, an antisatellite test. The Chinese space
agency was in fact testing docking techniques to be used in the building of a future
orbital station, but Beijing never made any official statements about the news.
In 2015, a Russian satellite named Luch
40
maneuvered for several weeks near
two US commercial satellites owned by the Washington-based Intelsat organization. Since the company is one of the largest satellite operators and the Pentagon’s
main provider for space-based communication services, the orbital maneuver represented a clear intimidation action. Three years later, French Defense Minister
Florence Parly publicly declared that Luch also approached a Franco-Italian military satellite to intercept its radio-communications.
41
In 2016, the Chinese Navy captured a US underwater drone that was officially
mapping the seabed of the South China Sea.
42
To do so, the Chinese employed
automatic robotic technology, which could soon be used in space as well.
In that same year, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
tested the new and powerful Long March 7 rocket, launching into space a small
satellite made by the Haibing Institute of Technology, Aolong-1,
43
whose mission
was the recovery of orbital debris with a special robotic arm. This type of technology has a clear dual use. On one side, it enables the docking and manipulation of
debris to clean outer space. On the other, it enables the capture of a satellite, just
like the submarine drone did under the sea.
Currently, this technological confrontation in space is conducted chiefly by the
US, China and Russia. Other spacefaring nations such as India and Japan are still
behind them, and Europe appears absent from this playground. Yet, the old continent is facing turmoil with the US decommitment from old Cold War logic, as
37
https://spacenews.com/northrop-grummans-mev-1-servicer-docks-with-intelsat-satellite/.
38
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19379-two-chinese-satellites-rendezvous-in-orbit/.
39
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/china-s-satellite-manoeuvres-draw-scrutiny-1.945272.
40
http://spacenews.com/russian-luch-satellite-relocates-next-to-another-intelsat-craft/.
41
France24 2018. « Paris accuse Moscou d’espionnage sur un satellite franco-italien ». https://
www.france24.com/fr/20180907-france-accuse-russie-espionnage-satellite-franco-italienathena-fidus-florence-parly.
42
New York Post. 2016. China’s navy seizes underwater US drone.
43
https://www.globalsecurity.org/space/world/china/aolong.htm.
108 Battlestar Galactica: The Space Cyberwar of the Future