(209 kilometers)
Posted on 02/26/2023 4:25:10 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Someone should probably forward this to Elon Musk because it sounds like China is gunning for him, possibly in a quite literal fashion. The South China Morning Post is reporting that China has begun a space program that aims to put nearly 13,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit in the next four years. Most of these (but not all) will be communications satellites intended to create a global network to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink program. The Chinese claim that they’re trying to make sure they get their fair share of orbital slots, which seems harmless enough. But they’ll be doing more than just that. The announcement speaks of a plan to “suppress” Starlink (whatever that means) and possibly some even more direct attacks on SpaceX equipment.
Researchers say China plans to build a huge satellite network in near-Earth orbit to provide internet services to users around the world – and to stifle Elon Musk’s Starlink.
The project has the code name “GW”, according to a team led by associate professor Xu Can with the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Space Engineering University in Beijing. But what these letters stand for is unclear.
The GW constellation will include 12,992 satellites owned by the newly established China Satellite Network Group Co, Xu and his colleagues said in a paper about anti-Starlink measures published in the Chinese journal Command Control and Simulation on February 15.
Even if this was just a matter of space real estate, the explanation from the Chinese makes little sense. They claim to be ensuring that they have “a place in low orbit” and want to “prevent the Starlink constellation from excessively pre-empting low-orbit resources.” But as Douglas Adams once pointed out in the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “space is big. Really big. You just won’t believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is.”
Yes, we’ve dumped a ton of refuse into the orbital junkyard that now surrounds our planet and there are thousands of satellites up there. But it’s still mostly empty space and those birds are not close to being bumper-to-bumper yet. There would be room for two constellations of satellites with plenty to spare.
The announcement also says that China plans to “gain opportunities and advantages at other orbital altitudes, and even suppress Starlink”. Given the translation issues, perhaps that just means they plan to compete with Starlink for customers. But it might also suggest some sort of electronic interference with the Starlink satellites.
The final threat in the announcement appears to remove all doubt. It claims that “new weapons, including lasers and high-power microwaves, would be developed and used to destroy Starlink satellites that pass over China or other sensitive regions.
We’ve discussed this here in the past and the situation appears to be growing steadily worse. The United States has fallen behind China in the development of offensive satellite technology and it’s going to take time to catch up. (Assuming we ever do.) The Chinese have begun launching birds that are far more maneuverable for a longer period of time than ours and it is believed that some of them already have offensive weapons capabilities. Or they could simply choose to crash into one of ours. It doesn’t take much to knock out a satellite. And while China hasn’t threatened to take out our military satellites yet, it sounds as if they may use Elon Musk’s gear for some target practice. This is not a good situation and we need to get on top of this.
What's "harmless" about it?
With all the junk up there its amazing we can launch things safely anymore.
The series “Planates” is going to become reality. Whole companies removing junk from space.
Go ahead.
Make Musk mad.
See what happens.
Go Elon, build more Tesla factories in China, the country you love so much.
So being silent to the CCP’s crimes and promoting bullshit for Taiwan didn’t buy him any protection, huh.
I strongly suspect that Elon can play “Rock, Paper, Scissors” much better than the Chinese Commies.
They first have to build launch capabilities near the capacity of SpaceX. SpaceX bought that with years of development of standardized components and systems amenable to mass production.
The only thing holding SpaceX back in re capacity is that they have already saturated the global commercial space for satellite launch.
A war-footing in space, with DOD funding, would permit expansion by orders of magnitude.
Elon Musk has shown he is committed to free speech.
For the American space pessimists I wonder if china has an unmanned space plane that can grab space objects at will and return them to earth.
The US does and has been using this secret space plane for quite some time. It also deploys an array of completely unknown objects.
The problem with China’s plan is they want to go to lower orbits than SpaceX. That would mean even more sats in lower orbits with even shorter life times. The reason SpaceX got the orbits that they did, is that no one could afford to put the number of sats in orbit like Musk did.
The next major cost savings that SpaceX has coming online is with Starship ability to put 100 tons of the new sats in orbit along with better point to point lasers and a new more efficient ion drive.
My comment #12 did have some irony and sarcasm in it, BTW, but only about politicians eating babies (re. the Qtard syndrome, Putinistas, etc.).
My comment #12 did have some irony and sarcasm in it, BTW, but only about politicians eating babies (re. the Qtard syndrome, Putinistas, etc.).
GW stands for Guowang 國網 meaning national network.
There is no way that users around the world are going to choose a PLA internet system over Starlink, or OneWeb, or Lightspeed, or Viasat, etc.
The Chinese might use strongarm tactics on some of their Asian client states but even they have latitude.
If they want to build a big LEO system for their billion+ customers that’s nice. That will probably work. But outside their borders, they shouldn’t expect much. Starlink and others will still dominate.
‘China is acting out of character and they are about 10 years and maybe a little more in defense’
10 years what?
Ahead or behind?
TIA
USA has been so nice we have said we do not want to militarize space.
China is doing it as fast as they can, and will use space to obliderate anyone else up there.
They are very clever and inscrutable.
They want to kill us and colonize our country .
They will not play fair, and we need to fight dirty too.
We need to do cyber neutering of their satellites .
Which, when it comes to most people’s choice of what service they wish to use, is a VERY big deal. And can be played to the hilt.
One of the times when the correct moral posture and “it’s just good business” are a happy union, much like honesty in transactions.
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