Chinese researchers appear to have revealed a previously unknown inter-satellite refueling operation in high Earth orbit, putting the country at the forefront of a technology that could reshape the space race. In a peer-reviewed paper for the Journal of Deep Space Exploration, the team said China had “successfully provided room-temperature refueling for a high-orbit BeiDou satellite for the first time.” Researchers at the state-funded Deep Space Exploration Laboratory did not provide details about the operation. They said it had provided China with valuable experience, but stressed the need to develop technologies to transfer extremely low-temperature propellants, which offered better performance for large spacecraft and deep space missions.
