After initial enthusiasm from its deep-space tracking network, China’s astronomical silence on 3I/ATLAS after the object’s Mars encounter has raised questions, was it a technical limit, a policy shift, or deliberate restraint?
In late August, when 3I/ATLAS was still inbound toward Mars, China’s Purple Mountain Observatory (PMO) and CNSA’s Deep Space Network (CDSN) were among the earliest to release trajectory models in local academic channels. They confirmed the object’s i... [2461 chars]