The intense competition between superpowers in space has become a vital area for escalation among them. China, Russia, and the United States exchange accusations regarding the pursuit of “militarizing space” by placing weapons in outer space, making it a theater for military confrontation. This raises concerns about the onset of an arms race in outer space, and fears have even escalated to the potential deployment of nuclear weapons in space.
In response to these concerns and mutual accusations, China, in particular, has sought to develop satellites with robotic capabilities. These satellites can, besides orbiting, intervene using robotic arms to perform various tasks. These tasks range from repairing damaged parts of other satellites to neutralizing or attacking the space vehicles and satellites of their adversaries. Therefore, it is crucial to understand these robotic satellites and their advantages, along with reviewing the key aspects of international competition in developing such satellites.
Technological Opportunities
Robotic Satellites can be defined as satellites equipped with robotic technology, meaning they incorporate robotic systems. They can intervene using robotic arms to conduct evaluation, maintenance, and repair operations on damaged parts of other satellites. Additionally, they can be used for military purposes by monitoring their own or other countries’ satellites and intervening to protect them if other countries’ satellites attempt to attack or interfere with targeted satellites. Using this type of robotic satellite offers several advantages:
Quick Evaluation and Maintenance of Satellites: These robotic satellites perform various functions essential to space missions, ranging from scientific research to maintaining other satellites or refueling them in orbit. This extends the operational lifespan of those satellites, as they are launched without any means of repair if something malfunctions, and most require fuel to adjust their orbits periodically. Once this fuel is depleted, they could become space debris, adding to the large stream of debris orbiting the Earth. Robotic satellites can help mitigate the impending orbital debris problem by removing non-functional satellites from orbit.
Efficient Intelligence and Surveillance Operations: As reconnaissance and exploratory satellites, the primary function of these robotic satellites includes tracking and monitoring satellites belonging to their own or other countries, capturing images, and sending them to ground control centers.
Handling Difficult and Dangerous Tasks: These robotic satellites can perform tasks that might be too dangerous, distant, or repetitive for human astronauts. They are designed to operate under the harsh conditions of space, including extreme temperatures, radiation, and vacuum. They can also carry out their tasks effectively with minimal human intervention. The future integration of artificial intelligence technologies into these satellites could make them more autonomous, reliable, and capable of performing complex tasks without direct human control. This advancement has not only enhanced space exploration but also opened new possibilities for future missions, including asteroid mining, deep space exploration, and even building bases on other planets.
Lower Cost of Robotic Satellites: The presence of a robotic satellite in orbit facilitates rapid intervention without the additional cost needed to accomplish its tasks. Expanding these robotic satellites will mark a significant milestone in achieving numerous public and private projects aimed at using robots to repair and improve the performance of billions of dollars worth of satellites in orbit.
Intervening to Attack or Neutralize Other Countries’ Satellites: Robotic satellites can monitor and observe the activities of other countries’ satellites, protecting their own by using robotic arms for direct intervention if they detect any threat from a hostile satellite.
These efforts could lead to better and cheaper satellites that reduce the cost of internet and mobile phone networks, provide better weather forecasts, and offer unprecedented perspectives on planetary and cosmic changes. They might even enable a new wave of satellites in orbit, with armies of robots building satellites, space stations, and even spacecraft headed to Mars.
International Competition
There is currently international competition over robotic satellites, which is evident through the following points:
China’s Interest in Developing Robotic Satellites:
China views space as the “most important base” for launching competition on Earth. This perspective has grown particularly strong following the recent establishment of its Strategic Support Force and the creation of a new space air force that reports directly to the Central Military Commission. China’s outer space strategy encompasses a range of goals, from asteroid mining to increasing the number of satellites and developing a competitor to the American GPS system.
All these objectives are aimed at enhancing the nation’s overall power. China has stated that exploring the vast universe, developing the space industry, and becoming a space power is its eternal dream. Hence, China sees the geostrategic nature of space as vast but also subject to constraints. China has supported its direction by significantly increasing space activities, launching over 400 satellites in 2022 and 2023 as part of its strategy to develop a constellation of reconnaissance, surveillance, and even attack satellites. In December 2023, China launched the remote sensing satellite (Yaogan-41) into a geostationary orbit, making it the largest Chinese remote sensing satellite in the Earth’s belt. Analysts expect the satellite to be positioned for continuous and comprehensive monitoring of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, as well as Taiwan and mainland China.
Alongside data from other Chinese monitoring satellites, (Yaogan-41) could provide China with an unprecedented ability to identify and track objects across the entire Indo-Pacific region, posing a threat to many maritime and aerial assets operated by the U.S. and its allies. Besides reconnaissance missions, China has developed satellites with the capability to grasp other satellites using robotic arms, part of its activity involving interaction and maneuvering with other satellites. An example is the (Shijian-21) satellite launched in October 2021, officially designed to test and verify space debris mitigation technologies. It is classified as an on-orbit servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (OSAM) satellite, capable of approaching and interacting with other satellites. Such systems can support a wide range of applications, including extending the life of existing satellites, assembling satellites in orbit, or performing maintenance and repairs. In January 2022, the (Shijian-21) satellite grabbed another older satellite and moved it to a “graveyard” orbit to prevent it from interfering with other satellites. In other words, China was working on cleaning up space debris.
Accusations Against Beijing for Military Use of Robotic Satellites:
The expansion of China’s use of satellites has led many analysts to suggest that Beijing aims to use robotic satellites for military activities. Both remote operation capabilities and robotic arm technologies have dual-use applications, meaning they have potential military uses besides scientific or service applications. They can be used to move any operational satellite belonging to another country out of orbit, among other activities.
Russia’s Use of Satellites Against Its Adversaries:
Russia has been a pioneer in launching satellites with hostile technologies. Russian reconnaissance and inspection satellites from the (Luch/Olymp) series monitor Western communication satellites, staying close to them for long periods. In February 2019, the first Russian (Luch/Olymp) satellite approached the Chinese (TJS-3) satellite within 30 kilometers.
Chinese military leaders expressed concern that Russian satellites could be covert anti-satellite platforms capable of attacking with directional explosives, lasers, microwaves, or other means to destroy or disable targeted satellites. In 2019 and 2022, the Russian space agency launched a group of small, maneuverable “inspection” satellites into low orbit. These satellites are ostensibly designed to rendezvous with and inspect other satellites for diagnostic purposes. However, with integrated sensors and robotic arms, these satellites can tamper with or even destroy other satellites. The Associated Press reported that Russia had developed a “Nesting Doll” satellite that opens to reveal a smaller satellite, which then opens to reveal a projectile capable of destroying nearby satellites. In 2019, the Russians maneuvered a Nesting Doll satellite near an American satellite. Recently, in May 2024, Russia launched a mysterious satellite named (Kosmos 2576) from the Plesetsk spaceport in northern Russia, targeting an American government reconnaissance satellite (USA 314).
Four days later, on May 20, U.S. ambassador Robert Wood, the alternate representative for special political affairs at the United Nations, claimed that (Kosmos 2576) “is likely an anti-space weapon, potentially capable of attacking other satellites in low Earth orbit.”
Washington’s Efforts to Maintain Its Leadership in Satellite Technology:
The United States is a leader in launching reconnaissance satellites, having launched a series of space surveillance satellites since 2014 as part of the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program (GSSAP), or “Hornet.” Developed secretly by the Air Force and Orbital Sciences, this program provides a space capability operating in geosynchronous orbit to support U.S. Strategic Command’s space surveillance operations as a dedicated sensor for the Space Surveillance Network (SSN). These satellites are maneuverable, allowing them to gather intelligence on specific targeted satellites. In March 2024, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) announced plans to launch a space robot in 2025 to service one of its military satellites in geostationary orbit. Equipped with a robotic arm, it will dock with the satellite and install a new optical sensor. Developed in a public-private partnership, this major initiative aims to attract the private sector to leverage robotic technologies in space to shape the future of U.S. space defense.
In conclusion, amid the fierce competition among major powers and their efforts to militarize space, potentially even deploying nuclear weapons in space, we may witness a surge in the development of hostile space technologies. This will especially involve exploiting robotic satellites with maneuvering and intervention capabilities, given the increasing reliance on satellites for critical national infrastructure. While these robotic satellites offer advantages by making space more accessible and sustainable, they also pose growing risks.
