US military detects ‘mystery object’ orbiting Earth alongside Chinese satellite

A MYSTERIOUS object has been spotted orbiting the Earth alongside China’s newly launched space debris satellite, reports say.

According to a US space squadron, the object has a rocket body and an apogee kick motor (AKM) – a motor employed to change the trajectory of a satellite before its final orbit.

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China launched the Shijian-21 satellite on October 23 with the device being used to “test and verify space debris mitigation technologies,” according to Beijing’s state media.

One theory surrounding the mystery object is that it could be part of a counterspace operations tests, reports SpaceNews.

The site says it’s “currently unknown whether the object is an [apogee kick motor], an object possibly related to space debris mitigation tests, or part of potential counterspace operations tests.”

Astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell, of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, said the satellite and the object are 37 miles apart which he says “appears to be a deliberate synchronisation.”

He told Gizmido: “If you just ejected and said bye-bye, you’d expect a steadily increasing separation.”

McDowell suspects Shijian-21 and the object are working in tandem potentially monitoring radio signals from other satellites.

However he warned that we’d have to wait til early next year to see if either device makes a manoeuvre to be sure.

China’s Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-3 satellite produced a “sub-satellite” in 2018.

The “pair manoeuvred in concert and carried operations including spoofing, which involves coordinated manoeuvres at certain times in an attempt to confuse rivals’ space tracking networks,” reports SpaceNews.

Space tech is becoming a new arms race as nations roll out anti-satellite weapons, ground-based lasers and GPS jammers which experts say all pose a “significant threat” to the West.

There are fears that China and Russia’s space weapons could “unleash havoc” in a satellite attack which could cost the UK some £1billion a day.

It is feared an orbital onslaught could shut down hospitals, crash the economy, knock out communications, and cause mass blackouts.

SPACE WEAPONS

Last year, the US and UK accused Moscow of launching another anti-satellite missile – the third of its kind in 2020 .

British military chiefs have previously warned there could be an attack from space within the next two years – something which has also been dubbed a potential “Pearl Harbor in space” for the US.

Allen Antrobus, a military space expert at Airbus Defence and Space in Stevenage, Herts, told The Sun Online he “absolutely” believed there was an increased threat of an attack in space.

Space industry body UKspace admitted firms have very little ability to defend key data and infrastructure should the West come under attack from space.

Nick Shave, chairman of UKspace, said: “Even a short, temporary disruption to satellite data would unleash havoc, causing almost £1billion of damage each day.

“It is no exaggeration to say that if satellite services were to be disrupted even temporarily, complete economic havoc would be unleashed, with business-critical internet services and mobile telephones being lost, not to mention the disruption socially.

“The financial cost of this kind of disruption is incalculable.”

Last month, China fired a hypersonic missile around the globe with the US left reeling by the terrifying display.

NUCLEAR MISSILES IN SPACE

US intelligence and military officials were reportedly left stunned after Beijing launched a rocket in space carrying a hypersonic glide vehicle which circled the globe before speeding towards its target.

The nuke-capable missile missed its target by about two-dozen miles when it was secretly launched in August, intelligence sources told the Financial Times.

But the chilling test has alarmed US officials and shows how China has made astonishing progress on the development of its hypersonic weapons, sources said.

A hypersonic missile travels five times faster than the speed of sound and can reach distances of up to 1,500 miles, with Russia using the technology to build cutting-edge missiles in recent years.