Chinese military researchers are calling for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to be destroyed, the Gatestone Institute reported.
Source: China’s Military: Destroy Musk’s Starlink System | Newsmax.com
Chinese military researchers are calling for Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to be destroyed, according to the Gatestone Institute.
China had urged the United Nations in December 2021Ā to protect a Chinese space station and its three-member crew after Beijing claimedĀ that satellites launched by Musk nearly struck the station.
A foreign ministry spokesman had accused Washington of ignoring its treaty obligations to protect the safety of the Tiangong station’s crew following July 1 and Oct. 21 incidents, The Associated Press reported.
The Tiangong was forced to perform “evasive maneuvers” to “prevent a potential collision” with Starlink satellites launched by Space Exploration Technologies Corp., China said in a Dec. 6 complaint to the U.N. Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.
Starlink gives people the opportunity to both connect with the Internet and do cellphone communications without connecting with governmental or state control systems.
Gatestone noted that the U.S. had rejected China’s claims about the space station being in danger from the satellites.
But Gatestone said China’s problem with the satellites does not appear to be centered on fears of a space collision, but rather that China believes that Starlink could ultimately be used for military purposes and threaten its national security.
Musk’s Starlink satellite constellation represents a major threat to the Chinese Communist Party’s plan to knock out American satellites and render U.S. military assets ineffective if the two superpowers ever go to war ā which is why China is working on ways to destroy Musk’s machines, according to Gatestone.
While Starlink was developed as a civilian program to provide high-speed internet services to parts of the world that don’t have the infrastructure in place to provide connectivity, Musk has signaled the innovative tech is more than just an altruistic endeavor, raising major concerns for China.
A study published in May by a group of Chinese researchers called for the development of anti-satellite capabilities that could disable Musk’s Starlink satellites. The study purportedly laid out the need for “a combination of soft- and hard-kill methods” that could be used to stop the satellites from working.
Gatestone pointed out the scientists said that China needs to “vigorously develop countermeasures” against Starlink, since such capabilities are necessary for China “to maintain and obtain space advantages in the fierce space game.”
