China military must be able to destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites if they threaten national security: Chinese scientists

[F-22Raptor]

Chinese military researchers say the country needs to be able to disable or destroy SpaceX’s Starlink satellites if they threaten national security.

According to a paper published last month, China needs to develop anti-satellite capabilities, including a surveillance system with unprecedented scale and sensitivity to track and monitor every Starlink satellite.

The study was led by Ren Yuanzhen, a researcher with the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications under the PLA’s Strategic Support Force. Co-authors included several senior scientists in China’s defence industry.

China must be able to destroy Musk’s Starlink if it poses threat: scientists

Researchers call for development of anti-satellite capabilities including ability to track, monitor and disable each craft.

www.scmp.com

SpaceX already has 2,500 Starlink satellites in orbit and is rapidly growing. This effort will be nearly impossible for China.

 

[kankan326]

Send millions of steel objects to starlink orbit with opposite movement direction.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Uh oh...a way for people to get around the Great Firewall...time for the Party to get real nervous about this security risk.

 

[F-22Raptor]

"A combination of soft and hard kill methods should be adopted to make some Starlink satellites lose their functions and destroy the constellation's operating system," the Chinese boffins reportedly said, estimating that data transmission speeds of stealth fighter jets and US military drones could increase by a factor of 100 through a Musk machine connection.

The authors also expressed concern over the ability of Starlink satellites to quickly change orbits via ion thrusters as an offensive move, or for military payloads to be disguised as Starlink machines and sent into orbit undetected.

China needs ability to take out Starlink, say researchers

Paper authors warn Elon Musk's 2,400 machines could be used offensively

www.theregister.com

Uh oh...a way for people to get around the Great Firewall...time for the Party to get real nervous about this security risk.

The massive Starlink constellation is going to be a huge problem for China in the event of conflict.

 

[nang2]

Starlink relies on ground stations to connect to the Internet. Knock out the ground stations, then Starlink satellites would be useless.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Starlink relies on ground stations to connect to the Internet. Knock out the ground stations, then Starlink satellites would be useless.

But they are located in multiple countries

SpaceX's Starlink establishes emergency ground station in Fiji

Emergency ground segment seems to be up and running already

www.datacenterdynamics.com

According to the tracking site, SpaceX has 14 permanent ground stations in Europe and Turkey, more than 40 in North America, 14 in Latin America, 25 in Australasia, and others on islands including Guam and Puerto Rico. It has none in Asia or Africa.

 

[dbc]

Starlink relies on ground stations to connect to the Internet. Knock out the ground stations, then Starlink satellites would be useless.

good luck, SpaceX will not need ground stations once all satellites are equipped with laser. SpaceX started launching laser enabled starlink satellites in September 2021. Once all 45,000 laser enabled satellites are launched we are looking at data transfer rates of 10 gbps worldwide with zero ground relay stations.

 

[F-22Raptor]

Wait until Starship starts launching 400 Starlinks at a time

 

[nang2]

good luck, SpaceX will not need ground stations once all satellites are equipped with laser. SpaceX started launching laser enabled starlink satellites in September 2021. Once all 45,000 laser enabled satellites are launched we are looking at data transfer rates of 10 gbps worldwide with zero ground relay stations.

Thanks for the information. Very interesting.

 

[Oracle]

A laser can do it from ground

 

[Mav3rick]

Send millions of steel objects to starlink orbit with opposite movement direction.

Why? Just find a surefire way to hack into the Starlink System and use the adversary's own resources against it.

 

[letsrock]

its very easy to junk up outer space which will make any future launch impossible. The indian asat debri is still there. One hopes everyone use space responsibly for peaceful purposes.

 

[SQ8]

good luck, SpaceX will not need ground stations once all satellites are equipped with laser. SpaceX started launching laser enabled starlink satellites in September 2021. Once all 45,000 laser enabled satellites are launched we are looking at data transfer rates of 10 gbps worldwide with zero ground relay stations.

There is a possibility of creating coordinated space junk but that is a armageddon mentality which will basically strand mankind on earth in a bad way and greately diminish the entire global space presence.

In a way Elon is already doing that since he probably sees Earth as doomed and wants to make money off Tesla to get himself and like minded folks onto Mars… China or America is irrelevant to it.

 

[PakFactor]

There is a possibility of creating coordinated space junk but that is a armageddon mentality which will basically strand mankind on earth in a bad way and greately diminish the entire global space presence.

In a way Elon is already doing that since he probably sees Earth as doomed and wants to make money off Tesla to get himself and like minded folks onto Mars… China or America is irrelevant to it.

I’m sure next 15-20 years we’ll be seeing a lot of anti-satellite weapons from lasers to missiles to knock them out, be it space junk or not.

 

[SQ8]

I’m sure next 15-20 years we’ll be seeing a lot of anti-satellite weapons from lasers to missions to knock them out, be it space junk or not.

Exactly - get rich quick. See the world quickly.. bucket list style. The find a remote corner and raise a family there because earth is doomed