China’s plan to stop Starlink’s Elon Musk includes submarines that can shoot lasers in space

The Associated Press review found that Chinese scientists and military scientists, who are concerned about the use of the potential Starlink by the opponents in a military confrontation and spying, have published dozens of papers in public magazines that explore ways to hunt and destroy the satellites for musk.

Chinese researchers believe that Starlink-is a vast constellation of low-orbit satellites that offer cheap, fast and arduous connection everywhere even in remote areas-a great danger to the Chinese government and its strategic interests. This fear was often driven by the company’s close relations with the American Intelligence and Defense Foundation, as well as its growing global imprint.

Professors from the Chinese Defense University wrote at the 2023 paper: “With the United States integrating Starlink in the origins of military space to gain a strategic advantage over its opponents, other countries are increasingly seen Starlink as a security threat in the nuclear, space and cyber fields,” wrote professors from the Chinese Defense University in the 2023 paper.

Chinese researchers are not the only concerned about Starlink, which has suffocation outer space Communications. Some traditional allies in the United States are also wondering about the wisdom of handing over the basic communications infrastructure – and a possible data group – to a company run by an unpredictable foreign businessman who is not always clear.

The concerns that deepened the full invasion of Russia to Ukraine in 2022 from Ukraine, the advantages of the battlefield can be transmitted by the Qumran Starlink, which could be transferred and exacerbated by the spreading political interests of Musk.

Musk pumped tens of millions of dollars in efforts to re -election President Donald Trump and temporarily appeared, as a major advisor and government official. Since Musk plays the idea of starting his political party, he also cares about European policy, using his influence to strengthen a group of arduous and rebellious right -wing figures often, unlike founding politicians.

Musk left the Trump administration in May and within days his relationship with Trump publicly collapsed in a social media conflict. SpacexThe missile launch company and the space -based telecommunications company that established the Musk and which works on Starlink, are not detailed to the main US government functions. She won billions in decades to provide NASA and military satellite tasks. Against astronauts were stranded At the International Space Station and build a network of satellite spy for the National Reconnaissance Office.

Starlink space dominance sparked a global scramble to reach viable alternatives. But the overwhelming first engine has given Spacex near the monopoly power, which increases the complexity of business currents, politics and national security that meets Musk and its companies.

Starlink dominates space

Since its first launch in 2019, Starlink has been calculated for about two -thirds of all active satellites, according to Jonathan McDwell, astronomer at the Harvard Smithson Center for Astronomical Physics, who writes an official transmission message that follows the satellite. Spacex runs more than 8,000 active satellites and eventually aims to spread tens of thousands.

Beijing’s tendency to look at Starlink as a tool for the US military authority has its efforts to develop counter -measures – which, if published, can increase the risk of side damage to other customers as Spacex expands a global imprint. The satellites are likely to serve the same satellites that pass through China, Europe, the United States, and other geographical regions as they continue on the ground.

Starlink says it works in more than 140 countries, and has recently achieved success in Vietnam, Niger, Somalia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Pakistan. In June, Starlink also I got a license to work In India, overcoming concerns about national security and strong local communications interests to open a smart technology market of about 1.5 billion people.

On the company’s private coverage map, it has a very few dead areas that exceed those in North Korea, Iran and China.

There is no country or another company close to catching Starlink. Amazon The billionaire Jeff Bezos has reached his opponent with Project Kuper, which is what She launched her first batch From Internet moons in orbit in April. To date, the Amazon 78 of the satellite is at orbit, with 3,232 schemes, according to McDoel, and the London -based Eutestat OneWeb includes about 650 satellites in Orbit, which is a small part of the fleet that it initially planned.

The European Union spends billions of dollars on the development of its satellite group – called the IRIS2 initiative – but it is still behind it. European Union officials had to pressure their member states not to sign contracts with Starlink while operating and operating.

“We are allies in the United States of America, but we need to obtain our strategic independence,” said Christophe Groderler, a French member of the European Parliament who led the legislative work on IRIS2. “The danger is the lack of our fate in our hands.”

China was public about its ambition to build its own version of Starlink to meet all local national security needs and compete with Starlink in foreign markets. In 2021, Beijing created state -owned China Satnet and assigned it to launch a large group of military capabilities, known as Guowang. In December, the company launched its first operational satellite, and now has 60 out of 13,000 per orbit, according to McDoel.

Chiafan, a company supported by the Shanghai government, launched 90 satellites out of 15,000 planners. In November, the Brazilian government announced a deal with Qianvan, after Musk fought a burning public fight with a Brazilian judge investigating X, who also froze the country’s Space X bank accounts. Qianfan also targets customers in Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan and Uzbekistan and has ambitions to expand all over the African continent, according to a segment provided at the Space Industry Conference last year and published by The China Space Monitor.

Russia’s invasion of Ukrainian superior shipments

Fears about Starlink were shipped by Russia’s full invasion of 2022 for Ukraine. The war was a turning point in strategic thinking about Starlink and similar systems. Ukraine has used Starlink network to facilitate drones in the battlefield and drones, providing a decisive feature in the game. At the same time, the satellites were initially controlled at the beginning by one man, Musk, who can – and do – boycott critical services, and refuse, for example, extend coverage to support a Ukrainian attack on the Crimea occupied by Russia.

The US -led sanctions against Moscow also reduced the full invasion of the availability of Western technology in Russia, which confirms the geopolitical risks inherent in relying on foreign actors to reach critical infrastructure.

“Ukraine was a warning of the rest of us,” said Nitin Bay, co -founder and director of the Takchchchella Foundation, a general policy research center in Bangalore. India. “Over the past twenty years, we have been fully aware of the fact that giving important government contracts to Chinese companies is risky because Chinese companies are working as annexes to the Chinese Communist Party. Therefore, it is dangerous because the Chinese Communist Party can use technology as a craft against you. Now it is not different with the Americans.”

All 64 papers were published about the Starlink that was reviewed by AP in Chinese magazines after the conflict began.

Starlink capabilities and weaknesses

Its presence in omnipresction and potential military applications worried about Beijing and motivated the country to work. In paper after paper, the researchers assessed the capabilities and weaknesses of the network they seen clearly as a threat and a tender to understand what China might learn – and simulation – from Musk where Beijing is developing a similar satellite system.

Although Starlink does not work in China, Musk satellites can sweep Chinese lands. In 2023, researchers from the Chinese National Defense University simulated Starlink coverage for the main geographical regions, including Beijing, Taiwan and polar areas, and decided that Starlink could achieve a coverage around the clock.

They concluded that “the ability to cover the Starlink constellation for all regions in the world is steadily improving at a high speed.”

In another paper-this one published by the government-backed industrial monitoring team-the researchers set weaknesses in the supply chain in Starlink. And they wrote on the 2023 paper: “The company has more than 140 first -class suppliers and a large number of second and third degrees in the direction of the estuary.” “Supervising cybersecurity is limited.”

In another paper in 2023, engineers from the Popular Liberation Army suggested creating a fleet of satellite for satellite tail, collecting signals and perhaps using corrosion materials to damage their batteries or ion cannons to interfere with solar panels.

The Chinese academics encouraged the other Beijing to use global and diplomatic regulations to contain musk, even as the country’s engineers continue to clarify active anti -measures: spreading small visual telescopes already in commercial production to monitor Starlink. Deep mixture to create fake goals. Shoot on strong laser rays to burn musk equipment.

Some American analysts say that Beijing’s concerns may be exaggerated, but it seems that such assessments do little to cool the local debate. There was one Chinese sheet, simply: “Watch out for this stars.”

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Chen mentioned from Washington.