Scientists from China are proposing to create a program to destroy Starlink satellites for security
Chinese scientists have raised the question of the possibility of destroying Starlink satellites. A study by Zhen Yuan Zhang of the Beijing Monitoring and Telecommunications Institute said in detail that the need for satellite destruction mechanisms posed a possible threat to China’s national security.
The article, first published in Modern Defense Technology and later translated into David Cowig’s blog, argues that to achieve this goal, ‘it is necessary to create an unprecedented observation system that can detect every Starlink satellite orbiting our planet, “if necessary, it could be neutralized”.
“A combination of soft and hard destruction methods must be used to disable some Starlink satellites and destroy the constellation’s operating system,” – the paper said.
Part of the fears of Chinese scientists are that Starlink provides broadband satellite access to the Internet not only to civilian users but also to the US military. Zhen Yuanzhen estimated that the use of Mask satellites could increase data throughput in US military drones and invisible aircraft by more than 100 times.
This is an important point, given two aspects, the first of which is that the US Air Force has one of the most advanced combat aircraft in the world in addition to a large number of combat and reconnaissance drones. The second aspect is that the Pentagon has already signed a contract with Starlink to develop new technologies, including devices capable of detecting and tracking supersonic weapons.
It also adds that ion engines mounted on Starlink satellites allow them to change their orbit as needed and provide support to US forces during the offensive.
“The constellation Starlink is a decentralized system. The confrontation is not with individual satellites, but with the system as a whole. This requires some inexpensive and highly effective measures,” – said the study on the methods needed to neutralize satellites.
China’s concerns about satellites are understandable: last year, the Tiangun orbital station twice avoided collisions with Starlink satellites. Authorities even appealed to the United States through the United Nations to influence Ilona Maska’s SpaceX program.
There are also threats from Starlink satellites from Russia. Since the full-scale invasion, the aggressor country has been trying to drown out Starlink signals following the launch of satellite Internet in Ukraine. But according to the Pentagon, the company added a line of code and repulsed the attack.
