A Chinese reusable spacecraft may have demonstrated capabilities that could be used to attack other satellites on a recent months-long flight.
www.thedrive.com
While it's unclear what Object J is, and what the Chinese reusable space vehicle was doing with it, if LeoLabs' data is accurate it would point to the latter having significant capabilities to maneuver close to and interact with other objects in orbit.
It is worth noting that the U.S. Space Force's two X-37B mini-space shuttles, which are often presented as broad analogs to Chinese spaceplane developments, have a number of these capabilities, as well. The X-37Bs are
understood to be extremely maneuverable and can at least deploy payloads from a central bay, as well as
an auxiliary payload bus attached to the rear of its fuselage. There has been much speculation over the years about the X-37B's
potential offensive applications and it is now under the control of a unit tasked to carry out "orbital warfare," as you can read more about
here.
There are a number of relatively innocuous military and commercial/civilian applications of the ability of one object in space to get close to another and physically link up with it. On-orbit
inspection, refueling, and servicing are all capabilities that the U.S. military and NASA, among many others, are interested in and that could help ensure the uninterrupted functioning of various space-based services in peacetime and during a future high-end conflict.
