Moscow blew up one of
its old satellites in November in a missile test that sparked international
anger because of the space debris it scattered around the Earth's orbit.
US officials accused
Moscow of carrying out a "dangerous and irresponsible" strike that
had created a cloud of debris and forced the International Space Station's crew
to take evasive action.
Russia dismissed those concerns and denied
that the space debris posed any danger but a new incident with a Chinese
satellite suggests otherwise.
In the latest encounter, China's Tsinghua
Science Satellite came as close as 14.5 metres from a piece of debris, the
state-run Global Times reported late Wednesday.
The "extremely dangerous" event
happened on Tuesday, the report added, citing a social media post by Chinese
space authorities that has since been removed.
Space debris expert Liu Jing told the
Global Times that it was rare for debris and spacecraft to be just a dozen
metres apart, adding that the probability of collision this time was "very
high" and should theoretically have called for evasive action.
Anti-satellite weapons are high-tech
missiles possessed by few nations, and the move reignited concerns about an
escalating arms race in space - encompassing everything from laser weapons to
satellites capable of shunting others out of orbit.
The test was the fourth ever to hit a spacecraft
from the ground, and generated more than 1,500 pieces of trackable orbital
debris.
Last year there were close encounters
between the Chinese space station and satellites operated by Elon Musk's
SpaceX, which led to Beijing accusing the US of irresponsible and unsafe
conduct in space.