The Shijian-25 spacecraft docked with its older sibling, Shijian-21, and topped off its tank. On paper, it was a life-extension operation. In practice, it was a signal. China can now keep key ...

When you think of satellites, you probably think of those big finned boxes bouncing cellular signals out in orbit. They're certainly not the kind of thing you would consider a "vehicle," but it is a ...

It's been decades since humanity first sent a satellite into orbit, and during all this time we kind of become experts at it. What we still haven't mastered yet is extending the life of these ...

A generation ago, when former NASA Administrator Dan Goldin promoted the mantra of a “faster, better, cheaper” approach to the agency’s science missions, critics often joked that NASA could only pick ...

Two Chinese satellites have rendezvoused with one another more than 20,000 miles above the Earth in what analysts believe is the first high-altitude attempt at orbital refueling. China’s Shijian-21 ...

China has insisted that its constellation of satellites in geosynchronous orbit is a peaceful project. It is anything but.