China is practicing “dogfighting” satellites as part of its expanding capabilities in space, according to the United States Space Force, which warned that Washington’s key rivals are closing the technology gap as space becomes increasingly critical to security on Earth.
The Space Force observed “five different objects in space maneuvering in and out and around each other in synchronicity and in control,” its vice chief of space operations Gen. Michael A. Guetlein said Tuesday at a defense conference.
unconfirmedsourcesDOTgov@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
At some point we will have enough shit orbiting the planet that we won’t be able to launch anything into space for decades. That will be a good time.
gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 1 year ago
yeah I’m wondering about this, too. LEO clears itself within 5 years, but what about the higher orbits? Will they just continue to be polluted or what?
unconfirmedsourcesDOTgov@lemmy.sdf.org 1 year ago
Yeah it’s already a problem, but if we start ramming satellites against each other I could imagine the problem getting to a point where we have trouble launching things into space. The real issue is the relative velocity that orbiting objects have. If you’re curious, the Wikipedia article has a really cool infographic and the section on hazards is pretty interesting if you like space stuff.