China preparing for war in space? Chinese satellite grabs another in Earth orbit

tech.hindustantimes.com:

Is China really preparing for war in space, an actual star wars of sorts? On January 22, a Chinese satellite was detected moving out of its own orbit to grab another satellite out of its geosynchronous orbit and throwing it into a “super-graveyard drift orbit”. Graveyard orbits, also known as junk orbit or disposal orbit, are orbits placed farther away from Earth’s geosynchronous orbit (where all the functional satellites lie) to keep the defunct satellites out of the way. At the end of their operational life, satellites are often pushed there. This unique move, performed by Chinese satellite Shijian-21 or SJ-21 has now raised concerns among various space organizations over the potential use-case of such satellites.

How SJ-21 managed to do it has also worried some scientists. As per a report by The Drive, the Chinese satellite secretly moved out of its regular axis during the daylight hours. Daylight hours make it harder to observe satellites as sunlight affects the visibility of optical telescopes. Later on, Shijian-21 was observed maneuvering a defunct CompassG2 or Beidou navigation satellite out of its geosynchronous orbit and into a graveyard orbit. This entire move was later reported by the commercial space awareness firm ExoAnalytic Solutions. Brien Flewelling, the firm’s chief architect for space situational awareness (SSA), said that SJ-21 “appears to be functioning as a space tug” during a webinar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

The major concern behind this behaviour of the Chinese satellite Shijian-21 is the potential use in the future. The biggest concern is the militarization of satellites to cause disruption to another country’s communication system. This can be even more