China’s new launcher is aimed at space debris. Can it also be used as a weapon?

Chinese scientists have unveiled a projectile launcher for use in space – a device designed to remove dangerous debris orbiting the Earth but with potential to also be used as a weapon.

The compact and stealthy device draws on the principle of gunpowder propulsion dating back to 9th century China, but brings it into the new space age.

It was jointly developed by aerospace engineers in Nanjing, Shanghai and Shenyang and unveiled last month in the peer-reviewed Chinese journal Acta Aeronautica et Astronautica Sinica.

The projectile launcher (left) was designed to tackle the growing problem of orbital debris. Photo: Nanjing University of Science and Technology

Unlike conventional guns that can produce blinding flashes, intense vibrations and clouds of debris, the new device creates no smoke, no light and little vibration when fired, according to the paper.

This is achieved through a closed-gas, energy-absorbing mechanism.

That means a capsule – containing a net for capturing debris – can be precisely launched towards its target without any harmful jolt to the launch platform, said the team led by Yue Shuai, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Nanjing University of Science and Technology.

When the launcher is fired, a small charge ignites that generates high-pressure gas which drives a piston forward. A specially designed weak section then breaks at a predetermined pressure, releasing the projectile.

A ring angled at 35 degrees meets the projectile near the muzzle, taking most of the kinetic energy and vibration to bend like a flower collapsing inwards.

South China Morning Post