Back in April, a group led by Ren Yuanzhen from the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications (part of the Chinese Army Strategic Support Force) published an article in Modern Defense Technology magazine that the country needed a weapon that would disable or destroy Starlink satellites.
“The Starlink constellation is a decentralized system. It’s not about fighting individual satellites, but the whole system. This requires some low-cost, high-impact measures. A combination of soft and hard destruction methods must be applied so that some Starlink satellites lose their functions, and the constellation’s operating system was destroyed,” the publication quoted the scientists as saying.
What is wrong with Chinese scientists’ Starlink?
As Ren Yuanzhen and colleagues wrote, Starlink Internet will allow 100 times faster data transfer for military drones and stealth aircraft. Besides:
- SpaceX satellites can quickly move in orbit for combat thanks to ion thrusters;
- SpaceX may have launched some of the vehicles along with military equipment.
What is offered in China?
The authors of the study called for upgrading China’s existing space surveillance systems and equipping them with optical equipment that can provide ultra-clear images of small Starlink satellites. It also offers the option of intercepting a signal from each satellite. Thus, it will be possible to assess the danger of Starlink.
According to Ren Yuanzhen, China already has the ability to destroy satellites with rockets, but this method leads to a large amount of space debris.
In particular, China has already created lasers for blinding spacecraft, nanosatellites that can be launched to disable large devices, as well as tools for hacking satellite communications.
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