Chinese spacecraft image Maxar remote sensing and U.S. early warning satellites

HELSINKI — Chinese spacecraft have imaged orbiting U.S. commercial and military assets as the two countries seek to demonstrate and assess respective capabilities.

Chinese commercial remote sensing constellation operator Changguang Satellite Technology (CGST), a spinoff from an arm of the state-owned Chinese Academy of Sciences, published images Sept. 13 of a Maxar Worldview Legion 2 satellite. 

The images were taken by CGST’s Jilin-1 remote sensing constellation satellites across a few hours on Sept. 8, from ranges between 40-55 kilometers, showing details of the spacecraft. While part of an expanding Earth observation constellation, Jilin-1 satellites have apparently had their operations adjusted to include Non-Earth Imaging (NEI). 

Collected imagery demonstrates Jilin-1 satellites’ capabilities in terms of aiming, tracking, and stabilizing an imaging sensor, predicting or effecting a close encounter with favorable lighting, and capturing clear imagery despite spacecraft traveling at orbital speeds of at least 7 km per second. 

China has a growing need for space-based space situational awareness, such as NEI, as its space activities expand. NEI is also valuable for intelligence, deterrence signaling and potential counterspace operations.

The CGST release appears to mirror Maxar publishing images in July of Shijian-26, an experimental spacecraft believed to be a test of a new generation of Chinese remote sensing satellite, according to Susanne Hake, general manager of US government business at Maxar.

Jilin-1 satellites include optical imaging spacecraft with sub-meter resolution capabilities. CGST originally planned a 138-satellite constellation, but announced in 2022 that it aims to more than double this to 300 satellites. 

The U.S. Government sanctioned CGST in 2023 for allegedly providing imagery to Russian mercenary group PMC Wagner. 

Early-warning satellite approach

There was also activity at far higher altitudes, up at geosynchronous orbit. Shiyan-12 (02)—one of a pair of suspected inspector satellites orbiting the geostationary belt (GEO), 35,786 kilometers above the equator—made a close approach Sept. 11 to a U.S. missile early warning satellite, the Space based infrared system (SBIRS) GEO 6 spacecraft, designated as USA 336.

The closest approach by Shiyan-12 (02) took it within 60 km of USA 336, according to ISR University, which regularly publishes analysis of space domain developments. “The solar phase angle was ideal for SY-12 02 to image USA 336 with the sun nearly directly behind SY-12,” ISR University stated.

U.S., Chinese and Russian satellites have increasingly engaged in “cat and mouse” activities in GEO in recent years, with each side using a series of maneuvers and space situational awareness capabilities to attempt to get up close to each others’ assets and test responses.

Another satellite in the Shiyan series, the recently-launched Shiyan-29, has meanwhile been tracked in an unusual orbit just above GEO and with an exceptional inclination of 28.5 degrees. Orbiting around 800 km above GEO, the satellite is drifting west with respect to the ground, whereas satellites in the GEO belt appear fixed in the sky above a point on the Earth below. This unique orbit will make imaging and characterizing the spacecraft challenging, according to ISR University, as its inclination is much greater than other satellites at that altitude.

Shiyan satellites are experimental spacecraft which analysts believe are used to trial new systems such as sensors, communications subsystems and environmental instruments. The series appear to have been used for a range of purposes, including technology demonstrations, space environment monitoring, electronic intelligence, remote sensing, space situational awareness and space operations such as rendezvous and proximity maneuvers (RPO).

While many Shiyan satellites operate in low Earth or near-polar orbits, a number have recently headed to GEO, while the Shiyan-10 designation satellites entered Molniya orbits.