Over the next few years, Beijing will be able to launch several launch missions of “over 10,000 constellations” each. There are two main reasons that pushed the CCP to create its own "Starlink": spacecraft safety and national security. In addition, Beijing has begun creating means to disconnect and destroy Starlink satellites due to national security threats.
The G60 constellation, also called the Thousand Sails constellation, will be launched for the first time in August.
G60, which plans to launch about 12,000 satellites into low orbit to provide broadband Internet services with global coverage, will be led by commercial space company Yuanxin Satellite.
Yuanxin Satellite is a provider of low-orbit multimedia broadband satellite network management services based in Shanghai , China.
According to the International Telecommunication Union, China's earliest applied constellation project was the GW constellation, which plans to have 12,992 satellites, divided into two sub-constellations. It will deploy 6,080 satellites in an extremely low orbit below 500 km and 6,912 satellites in a low-Earth orbit of 1,145 km. It will be led by a national team.
Essentially, over the next few years, China will be able to launch several launch missions of “over 10,000 constellations” each.
Who invested in Yuanxin Satellite? Yuanxin Satellite has 14 investors including Xin Ding Capital and Hengxu Capital.
2022: Military version of Starlink satellites announced. On December 5, 2022, SpaceX revealed information about the Starshield project: we are talking about the further development of the Starlink satellite communication system, taking into account the requirements of the US military and government departments. Until now, Elon Musk's enterprise has not shared details about the Starshield initiative. Therefore, there is not too much information about the scale of the planned space infrastructure and its capabilities at the beginning of December 2022. It is said that Starshield is designed with an eye on three main areas: images, communication resources and putting payloads of different types into orbit. Starshield is expected to become some kind of "end-to-end" national security center. SpaceX intends to manufacture a wide range of equipment - from ground antennas to satellites that will be launched into space on the company's own carriers. In addition, SpaceX will be responsible for operating the satellite network. It is also planned to provide connection to the Starshield infrastructure of already operating government and military satellites by using inter-satellite laser communication systems. While the Starlink platform is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield will be applied by the state, says SpaceX. The Starshield system uses "additional highly reliable cryptographic algorithms to host secret payloads and securely process important data." One of the main users of Starshield, apparently, will be the Pentagon: the US Department of Defense is already actively using the services of SpaceX, and the emergence of a specialized satellite platform Starshield will expand the scope of cooperation. In essence, Starshield represents a step far beyond commercial markets. |
There are two main reasons that pushed the CCP to create its own "Starlink":
spacecraft safety;
national security.
The United States has long extended geopolitical theories to space and proposed astropolitics. American space strategist Dolman once said:
"Whoever controls the low-Earth orbit controls the near-Earth space, and whoever controls the near-Earth space dominates the Earth."
Large constellations like Starlink are actually deployed in low-Earth orbit, but we must know that orbital resources are limited. Among them, there are only 60,000 low-Earth orbit satellites in total, but more than 70,000 have been taken, which is not enough. The rule of the International Telecommunication Union is: first come, first served.
Among them, SpaceX applied for 42,000 satellites, and as of the time I wrote this article, more than 6,000 satellites have been issued. The increase in low-Earth orbit satellites brings a very serious problem: collision risk.
Starlink satellites have twice approached the Chinese Space Station which, according to Chinese sources, was forced to urgently change its orbit to avoid the risk of collision.
There are many similar situations. For example, in 2019, Starlink almost collided with the European Space Agency's Aeolus satellite. According to a report from SpaceX, from December 1, 2022 to May 31, 2023, Starlink was forced to change direction 25,299 times to avoid colliding with other spacecraft and space debris. The number of times is not a big deal, but what is more terrifying is that the number of collision avoidance maneuvers in these six months has doubled compared to June to November 2022, which means that the probability of collision is still increasing exponentially, doubling about every six months.
This is just one case where there are only a few thousand Starlinks. If there are 42,000 Starlinks, that means 70% of low Earth orbit is made up of Starlinks. It is so densely populated that the probability of collision is unimaginable.
SpaceX has also partnered with the US military to create a military version of Starlink: Star Shield. SpaceX itself also has a lot of technology from NASA and the US military. In other words, if a war were to break out in the future, SpaceX will certainly be controlled by the US military.
2024: Creation of a satellite network for the Pentagon for $1.8 billion SpaceX is building a network of hundreds of spy satellites under a secret contract with American intelligence, five sources familiar with the program said in March 2024, indicating deepening ties between billionaire Elon Musk's space company and national security agencies. The network is being created by SpaceX's Starshield division under a $1.8 billion contract signed in 2021 with the National Intelligence Agency (NRO), the sources said. If successful, the program will greatly expand the ability of the American government and the military to quickly detect potential targets almost anywhere in the world. |
In wartime, 42,000 Starlink satellites can cause enormous damage to China. Starlink, in fact, provides intelligence and communication services to the US military.
In addition, Starlink may be used by countries outside the United States. The South China Morning Post reported that the Japanese military has decided to use Starlink.
Launch in the Arctic for the needs of the Pentagon In early December 2023, it became known that specialists from the US Armed Forces completed comprehensive testing of the SpaceX Starlink satellite communication system in the Arctic. Tests lasting approximately nine months yielded positive results. Brian Beal, chief engineer of the Office of Integrated Capabilities as part of the US Air Force research laboratory, said that testing of broadband satellite Internet access was carried out in harsh conditions - in very strong winds and extremely low temperatures. It says Starlink is recognized as a "reliable and high-performance communication system" when used in the Arctic. "As soon as we securely secured the terminals so that they could withstand powerful gusts of wind, the system began to work stably without any problems. All tests went smoothly," - quotes the Bloomberg resource of Beale's statement. Air Force experts, among other things, assessed how useful Starlink's satellite infrastructure could be for the Pentagon. The harsh climate and remoteness of the Arctic region limit communications through existing U.S. military satellites. Meanwhile, the presence of stable data channels in this zone is of great importance for the United States, as a number of states are trying to strengthen their presence in the Arctic zone. As of the beginning of December 2023, the Starlink infrastructure has approximately 5 thousand spacecraft. Of these, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, more than 230 satellites are in polar orbit. This allows the Pentagon to use Starlink terminals as an alternative means of communication in the Arctic. |
Therefore, for both civilian and military use, China is forced to develop a national “Starlink”.
However, Beijing will soon have three constellations at its disposal: the GW, the G60 and the "Honghu-3" constellation.
The factors that have so far limited the Chinese development of "Starlink" are mainly two: the high costs of satellite production and rocket launch. To be honest, Beijing is still lagging behind the USA in this sector.
China began to create means of disconnecting and destroying Starlink satellites due to threats to national security
As it became known at the end of May 2022 , China began to create means of disconnecting and destroying Starlink satellites due to threats to national security
China needs to develop anti-satellite capabilities, including control systems with unprecedented scale and sensitivity, to track and monitor each Starlink satellite, the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Communications Technology said.
"It is necessary to use a combination of soft and tough methods of defeat to force some Starlink satellites to lose their functions and destroy the grouping's operating system, they write in an article for the Chinese magazine Modern Defense Technology."
According to Chinese experts, U.S. military drones and stealth fighters can increase data transfer rates by more than 100 times using the Starlink connection.
Hfytt SpaceX has signed a contract with the U.S. Department of Defense to develop new technologies based on the Starlink platform, including highly sensitive instruments capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic weapons moving at five times the speed of sound or even faster in Earth's atmosphere.
With more than 2,300 Starlink satellites in orbit (by May 2022), it is generally considered invulnerable, as the system can maintain performance even after the loss of some satellites.
China is reportedly developing a number of alternative anti-satellite technologies, including microwaves that can disrupt communications or burn electronic components.
Chinese scientists have also developed lasers to blind or damage satellites, nano-satellites that can be launched in large numbers to disable larger satellites, and cyber weapons to hack a satellite communications network.
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