China plans 'orbital guardian,' a 156-satellite safeguard for space

China is deploying a satellite constellation to enhance its space situational awareness, focusing on debris tracking for collision avoidance.

The constellation will be used to track space debris and ensure the safe operation of spacecraft. With global coverage, it is a responsive low Earth orbit monitoring network designed to provide space debris monitoring, collision risk prediction and support for space traffic management, thereby protecting space stations, spacecraft and satellites from space-based threats.

The plan is to launch 156 satellites successively starting in the first half of 2026.

"The primary function of the space sensing constellation is to collect data on space debris and orbiting satellites, analyze this data, and provide it to existing satellites to prevent collisions between satellites and between satellites and debris," said the project leader Hu Yu.

The 156 satellites that constitute the constellation will be equipped with payloads such as wide-field cameras, infrared cameras, imaging cameras, electromagnetic surveillance, multispectral cameras, computing units and intelligent processing software.