During the Cold War, both the USA and the USSR tested anti-satellite weapons. Basically, these were rockets that left a lot of space debris after hitting a target. Since the 80s, development has ceased, but recently China has begun to follow this path. In 2007, the PRC tested an anti-satellite missile, destroying an old weather satellite. But China understands that this is not the best choice in terms of orbital pollution. They also need a safe way into space.
According to the Chinese media, in recent years, scientists in the country have been developing technologies for non-destructive destruction of satellites. First of all, these are ground-based systems for jamming navigation, communication and optical surveillance devices. Orbital maneuvering platforms are also being created to capture enemy satellites - these are robotic arms that most frighten the Pentagon, as well as other capture systems.
It is important to note that satellite capture systems are not formally classified as weapons systems. Such tools are extremely important for repair and restoration work in space, as well as for the vault of space debris from Earth's orbit. Nevertheless, nothing will prevent such a system from de-orbiting an enemy satellite, which will not be able to prevent this in any way.
All of the above methods of disabling satellites have one common drawback - they are, one way or another, tracked. The new weapon, the prototype of which was created and tested on Earth, leaves no debris behind and is extremely accurate - it penetrates the satellite engine nozzle and is fixed there until the combat mission is completed.
The traditional nozzle configuration for rocket engines in modern satellites is the so-called Laval nozzle , where there is a bottleneck in the engine's exhaust system to improve the efficiency of the gas flow. A robotic anti-satellite mine hits the nozzle and the stem extends into a narrow place, followed by the disclosure of the latches at its end.
A mine with 3.5 kg of explosives can stay in the satellite's nozzle for as long as you like and even leave it on command without harming the device. But also on command, it can be detonated at any time. In fact, the Chinese can mine any objects in space, and no one will guess about it, until one fine moment they all suddenly stop working. The fact of sabotage will be difficult to prove. Such a breakdown is similar to an engine failure. In addition, an explosion of the calculated power directed into the apparatus is capable of disabling the satellite equipment without physically destroying it.
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