Public perception is highly positive regarding China's achievements in satellite refueling technology, with expressions of pride and admiration for the country's advancements in space exploration. Many comments emphasize China's technical prowess and capability to lead in space innovation.

Chinese Government

International Space Community

The first pic looks something out of a EVA movie

69x5

When the ISS gets destroyed in 2030 the tiangong will be the largest space station 

kindofsus38

In case anyone was interested, this is the “Tiangong Space Station”, Tiangong 1 and 2 were there own smaller stations and 3 was never flow. Kinda dumb naming convention but a very interesting program, especially impressive considering it’s being built by a single country.

SophiaThrowawa7

China doing everything on their own while the combined power of the allies are struggling to keep up makes you wonder.

Star_BurstPS4

The ISS is a joint American and Russian effort that excluded China due to security concerns. The Chinese said fuck it, we’ll build our own ISS, with strippers and blackjack

NoMikeyThatsNotRight

Chinese space station looks like from a movie from inside. it's dope!!!! truly futuristic.

Friendly_Day5657

Next up, race to the moon station, minus the cold war nuclear thing that wrecks everything humanity can stand for.

22firefly

taco-bake

Has any other nation had people on Tiangong other than China?

FairManner2344

Would they ever be close enough they could see each other?

birb-brains

Becoming12-

How do those solar panels not get obliterated by all of the debris orbiting the planet? I'm sure the hull is built to somewhat withstand small impacts, but I imagine those panels are pretty fragile.

DarthMaltBalls

I hope that after the ISS gets decommissioned, International collaboration for research in space doesn't die out as other countries create their own space stations.

True_Designer_3934

I am confused, are the images in the wrong order? Isn’t the second one the ISS?

canipleasebeme

Chinese one looks like shit, because, you guessed it... China

Chadonidas

Has either space station ever made life better for anyone?   Not me so I could care fucking less.

bwinte1973

*Refueling of bi-propellants (hypergolic), also first in GEO.

We've been refueling space stations with monopropellants since the 80's. Still a good achievement for the development and expansion of human space infrastructure.


Next to be developed is cryogenic fuel transfer which will allow greater exploration of the inner solar system.

EDIT: From what i've been told and investigating online, the later Salyuts, MIR and Zvezda all use hypergolic bipropellants for their RCS+propulsion. In which case only the GEO is relevant.

Xenomorph555

That would be pretty cool. Get more life out of satellites. Less waste etc. especially your more expensive resource intensive satellites. I wonder if that refueling satellite is reusable in some way as well.  

I guess it could even change how much fuel you need to bring or store. Which could lead to more usable space on the satellite for more instruments or whatnot.  Interesting to see where this might lead. 

BarbequedYeti

The SJ-21 and SJ-25 satellites “merged” on July 2 and have remained together since then.

Read the full article: [https://www.wired.com/story/china-jumps-ahead-in-the-race-to-achieve-a-new-kind-of-reuse-in-space/](https://www.wired.com/story/china-jumps-ahead-in-the-race-to-achieve-a-new-kind-of-reuse-in-space/)

wiredmagazine

Neat, but no not even close to the first. [DARPA and NASA demonstrated this technology all the way back in 2007](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_Express)

DarthPineapple5

There are already American space tug things where the second satellite approaches the older, fully functional but out of fuel satellite and docks to its engine nozzle. Then it moves it to where we want it now. Then lets go and heads off to service another derelict satellite.

fatnino

Boeing sabotaged US efforts to develop refueling tech more than five years ago: https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/08/rocket-scientist-says-that-boeing-squelched-work-on-propellant-depots/

Congrats to china, as sad as i am to see the end of US space dominance the writings been on the wall

rustle_branch

Im fully convinced China is going to win the next space race

spartanantler

Wow robotic too, that's a first. so basically they shot up an in flight refueling probe or robot or what ever you want to call it.

DangerousResearch236

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|-------|---------|---|
|[DARPA](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n2871w3 "Last usage")|(Defense) Advanced Research Projects Agency, DoD|
|DoD|US Department of Defense|
|[GEO](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n2elkac "Last usage")|Geostationary Earth Orbit (35786km)|
|[GTO](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n28ni1h "Last usage")|[Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/jason-davis/20140116-how-to-get-a-satellite-to-gto.html)|
|[LEO](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n2elkac "Last usage")|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)|
| |Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)|
|[MEO](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n272dmr "Last usage")|Medium Earth Orbit (2000-35780km)|
|[NG](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n27ui2h "Last usage")|New Glenn, two/three-stage orbital vehicle by Blue Origin|
| |Natural Gas (as opposed to pure methane)|
| |Northrop Grumman, aerospace manufacturer|
|[PAS](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n2951qm "Last usage")|Payload Adapter System|
|RP-1|Rocket Propellant 1 (enhanced kerosene)|
|[SECO](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n29fufn "Last usage")|Second-stage Engine Cut-Off|
|[SES](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n2951qm "Last usage")|Formerly Soci&amp;eacute;t&amp;eacute; Europ&amp;eacute;enne des Satellites, a major SpaceX customer|
| |Second-stage Engine Start|
|[SLS](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n26y5ir "Last usage")|Space Launch System heavy-lift|
|[TDRSS](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n28g29y "Last usage")|(US) Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System|
|[UDMH](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n2871w3 "Last usage")|[Unsymmetrical DiMethylHydrazine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsymmetrical_dimethylhydrazine), used in hypergolic fuel mixes|

|Jargon|Definition|
|-------|---------|---|
|[Starlink](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n29fufn "Last usage")|SpaceX's world-wide satellite broadband constellation|
|[bipropellant](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n291b7c "Last usage")|Rocket propellant that requires oxidizer (eg. RP-1 and liquid oxygen)|
|[cryogenic](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n2db3m5 "Last usage")|Very low temperature fluid; materials that would be gaseous at room temperature/pressure|
| |(In re: rocket fuel) Often synonymous with hydrolox|
|hydrolox|Portmanteau: liquid hydrogen fuel, liquid oxygen oxidizer|
|[hypergolic](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n2bt1x2 "Last usage")|A set of two substances that ignite when in contact|
|[monopropellant](/r/Space/comments/1lvk5sn/stub/n292t68 "Last usage")|Rocket propellant that requires no oxidizer (eg. hydrazine)|

Decronym is now also available on Lemmy! Requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.

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Decronym

Dumb paywall but hitting F5 allowed me to read a few more paragraphs before the paywall popped.

Warcraft_Fan

Kind of bizarre that there's no mention at all of [OSAM-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OSAM-1).

yatpay

I'd bet the X-37 already achieved the same. Just under secret testing.

Cruel2BEkind12

Unpaywalled and original article from Arstechnica.com 


Way ahead of space x, but not nasa yet  


https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/07/china-jumps-ahead-in-the-race-to-achieve-a-new-kind-of-reuse-in-space/


&gt; 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.


&gt; China's Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 satellites, known as SJ-21 and SJ-25 for short, likely docked together in geosynchronous orbit sometime last week. This is the conclusion of multiple civilian satellite trackers using open source imagery showing the two satellites coming together, then becoming indistinguishable as a single object.


&gt; Chinese officials have released no recent public information on what the two satellites are up to, but they've said a bit about their missions in prior statements.


&gt; SJ-25, which launched in January, is designed "for the verification of satellite fuel replenishment and life extension service technologies," according to the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, the Chinese state-owned contractor that developed the satellite. SJ-21 launched in 2021 and docked with a defunct Chinese Beidou navigation satellite in geosynchronous orbit, then towed it to a higher altitude for disposal before returning to the geosynchronous belt. Chinese officials described this demonstration as a test of "space debris mitigation" techniques.

kngpwnage

that's quite [a ways out there...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_orbits#/media/File:Comparison_satellite_navigation_orbits.svg)

AreThree

Any more info than just a post title and a link? A short TL:DR would be nice.

maksimkak

It's interesting that the Chinese mirror NASA and rotates every six months. It makes you wonder if its an arbitrary number, or if that's the best balance that NASA has found where astronauts physical health/family situation/mental health keeps them at their most productive. Or it could be risk mitigation when it comes to radiation, which would spell trouble for future Mars missions. The Chinese seems to have come up with the same number, or they simply copied NASA's rotations.

lostpatrol

What!? Without a stupid press release from the director of their space program!? This is unacceptable /s

i-hoatzin

This is the future speaking. We think you underestimated the Chinese. Have a nice day.

Cheeseychunks

I love China. And this is just one of many reasons

[deleted]

Orbital refueling would entail a reusable vehicle that refuels. No?

AwarenessNo4986

GlumAd2424

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What might be or what is ? 

  
Why always the fuzzy definition ?

  
Surely China knows what it has done. Why not just put it on their own state media. Shout it from the rooftops. WE DONE THIS!

  
I mean if they think they have done a first, just check it on Wikipedia. If it's a first, claim it. 

  
Ohh wait. Wiki is banned in China.

ActivityOk9255

The first step toward making this technique effective is to design refueling capability into your satellites.  Perhaps China has done so.  The USA is in progress: https://spacenews.com/northrop-grummans-orbital-refueling-port-selected-for-u-s-military-satellites/
Note that a fuel &amp; engine system has been added to satellites in orbit, but these were older satellites designed without refueling ports: https://spacenews.com/northrop-grumman-to-launch-new-satellite-servicing-robot-aimed-at-commercial-and-government-market/

jonmoulton

China's achievement of refueling satellites in geostationary orbit marks a significant milestone in space technology and has implications for satellite longevity and space debris.

Chinese Space Satellite Refueling Mission

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