Chinese scientists have raised the possibility of destroying Starlink satellites. In a study by Ren Yuanzhen of the Beijing Institute of Monitoring and Telecommunications, it is detailed that the need for mechanisms to destroy satellites lies in a possible threat to China’s national security.
The article, which was originally published in Modern Defense Technology and later translated in David Cowig’s blog, argues that to achieve this goal, “it is necessary to create an unprecedented surveillance system that can detect every Starlink satellite orbiting our planet, in order to, if necessary, it could be neutralized.”
“A combination of soft and hard destruction methods must be applied to disable some of the Starlink satellites and destroy the constellation operating system,” the scientific article says.
Part of the concern of Chinese scientists stems from the fact that Starlink provides broadband satellite Internet access not only to civilian users, but also to the US military. Ren Yuanzhen has calculated that the use of Musk’s satellites could lead to more than a 100-fold increase in data transmission capacity in U.S. Army drones and stealth aircraft.
This is an important point, given two aspects, the first of which is that the US Air Force has some 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 create new technologies, including devices capable of detecting and tracking supersonic weapons.
Added to all this, the ion thrusters installed on Starlink satellites allow them to change their orbit if necessary and provide support to US forces during the offensive.
“The Starlink constellation is a decentralized system. The confrontation is not on individual satellites, but on the system as a whole. This calls for some low-cost, highly effective measures,” the study says in regards to the methods needed to neutralize satellites.
China’s concern about satellites can be understandable: the Tiangong orbital station twice dodged collisions with Starlink satellites last year. The authorities even turned to the United States through the UN demanding to influence Elon Musk’s SpaceX program.
Also, there are threats to Starlink satellites from Russia. Since the full-scale invasion, the aggressor country has been trying to jam Starlink signals after launching satellite internet in Ukraine. But according to the Pentagon, the company added a line of code and repelled the attack .
Rogozin from Roskosmos threatened Elon Musk because of the transfer of Starlink stations to Ukraine – the answer was not long in coming?
