China’s space program made significant progress recently when two of its satellites appeared to connect with each other, potentially marking the nation’s first in-orbit satellite refueling attempt at a high altitude.
The satellites, Shijian-21 and Shijian-25, seemed to have docked last week over 20,000 miles away from Earth in geosynchronous orbit, where a satellite’s orbit aligns with the Earth’s spin, as reported by Ars Technica.
Back in April, Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman referred to China’s rapid advancements in space exploration as “astonishing” and cautioned that the U.S. may be at risk of losing its lead in space operations.
A photo illustration of a satellite is pictured here. (iStock)
Testifying before the bipartisan U.S.-China Commission, Saltzman said China is “heavily investing” in both ground-based and space-based weapons designed to disable enemy satellites, including kinetic strikes, radio-frequency jamming and directed energy weapons.
China also increased its military spending by 7% this year, stockpiling anti-satellite missiles and claiming to possess directed energy weapons that use concentrated energy beams to jam satellite signals.
The U.S. Space Force and NASA did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
