Value chain · CLM-0742
In plain terms
A 2026 assessment lists thirteen Chinese anti-satellite tests since 2005; only one is recorded as going far above low orbit, to about 30,000 km in May 2013, short of the roughly 36,000 km of geostationary orbit given in the same assessment, and the assessment records it as probably just a rocket test with no known target.
The claim as recorded
The same assessment's tabulated history of Chinese direct-ascent anti-satellite tests records thirteen events between July 2005 and April 2023, of which exactly one has a recorded apogee above low Earth orbit: the 13 May 2013 launch from Xichang, attributed to a possible DN-2 system, with apogee recorded as about 30,000 km, payload recorded as "None known", and the event classified in the notes column as "Likely rocket test"; of the other twelve, ten are recorded as suborbital or at 865 km or below and two (July 2005 and February 2006) have apogee recorded only as "?", and the only destruction of an orbital target listed is the January 2007 FY-1C intercept at 865 km, which the table records as creating 3,533 pieces of debris.
Scope and limits
A tabulated open-source event record, not a technical analysis of the 2013 launch. The classification "Likely rocket test" is SWF's own judgement and the table gives no method for it. The apogee is given to one significant figure with a tilde and may not be quoted as a precise altitude. The table covers China only. The 3,533-piece debris figure is the 2007 LEO event and must not be carried into any GEO argument.
What it assumes
That the table is complete for publicly reported events, which is what an open-source assessment can establish and no more.
Where it comes from
PDF p.183, Table 3-3, row reproduced verbatim by column: date "May 13, 2013"; system "Possible DN-2"; launch site "Xichang"; payload "None known"; apogee "~30,000 km"; notes "Likely rocket test". Comparison row, verbatim by column: date "Jan. 11, 2007"; system "SC-19"; launch site "Xichang"; payload "FY-1C satellite"; apogee "865 km"; notes "Destruction of orbital target, 3533 pieces of debris created".
Basis: apogee in km; event classification, qualitative
Related records
- Answers question
- QST-011 not published in this release
Cite this
energyaperture.com/c/clm-0742
CLM-0742, Energy Aperture, as of 2026-04.
Connected records
Other published records linked to this one. A list, not a judgement.
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