CNN Central News & Network-ITDC India Epress/ITDC News Bhopal: China refuels BeiDou satellite in orbit, extending life by eight years
Beijing. China has claimed a major technological achievement in efforts to extend the service life of satellites in space. According to Chinese researchers, an in-orbit refuelling process was completed for a BeiDou navigation satellite in a high orbit. The technology could help extend a satellite’s useful life even after its fuel is exhausted.
According to details linked to the Chinese research, a servicing satellite named Shijian-25 transferred about 142 kilograms of fuel to the BeiDou-2 G7 satellite in February 2025. A research study claimed that the process could extend the BeiDou satellite’s service life by about eight years. Shijian-25 was sent to test satellite refuelling, life-extension and other in-space servicing technologies.
The significance of the technology is also considerable because satellites generally carry only a limited amount of fuel into space. Once the fuel runs out, a satellite’s utility can be affected. The ability to refuel in space could allow expensive and technologically capable satellites to be used for longer periods. In the future, the same technology could also be useful in missions involving satellite repairs, orbit changes and the removal of space debris.
However, caution is also necessary regarding the achievement. The research detailing the mission is still under review, and publicly available space-monitoring data has not independently confirmed the fuel transfer said to have taken place in February 2025. For now, therefore, it is being treated as a claim made by Chinese researchers.
Hashtags: #ScienceTechnology #Bhopal #DeskSource #China #BeiDou #Shijian25 #SpaceTechnology #BeiDouSatellite #InOrbitRefuelling #SatelliteLifeExtension
