China is developing a rapid-response space defence system to intercept suspicious spacecraft and push them away, according to a senior scientist.
If an unidentified object approaches China’s Tiangong space station or other critical space infrastructure, a small robotic thruster could be deployed to latch onto the intruder and push it to a safer distance, said Sun Zhibin of the National Space Science Centre in Beijing.
“Sometimes another spacecraft may deliberately come close – maybe just to take…