Tags: China, Anti-Satellite, Missile, Launch
Publication: News.Yahoo.com
Publication Date: 05/16/2013

Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Image credit: CGWIC

A Chinese rocket launched on Monday has raised concerns in the United States over the possibility of an anti-satellite missile test. While China claims the launch carried a sciences payload to study our planet’s magnetosphere, reports indicate that the rocket didn’t place any objects in orbit, raising suspicions that the launch was a test for a new interceptor that could be used to destroy a satellite in orbit.

The rocket, launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in western China, reached an altitude of 6,250 miles above Earth, making it the highest suborbital launch worldwide since 1979, according to reports; the vehicle then re-entered the atmosphere above the Indian Ocean.

U.S. intelligence fears the rocket could be used in the future to carry anti-satellite payload. This concern began in 2007 when China launched a missile that destroyed one of its own defunct satellites in orbit. The event created an important amount of orbital debris, risking other satellites circling the Earth.

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