US Earth imaging satellite fleet is creating ‘low-cost orbital landmines’: China

US Earth imaging satellite fleet is creating ‘low-cost orbital landmines’: China

A team of Chinese researchers has criticised the world’s largest Earth-imaging satellite fleet, describing the shoebox-sized spacecraft as “low-cost orbital landmines” that threaten the safety of space operations. Using a self-developed tracking platform, software scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences analysed the Dove constellation – which has launched hundreds of CubeSats since 2013 to provide daily, medium-resolution imagery of the Earth’s surface – according to the team’s article...