[Text/Observer Network Li Zexi]
Musk, who has always been high-profile, may need to pay attention to: his "SpaceX" Starlink is a "reasonable target for attack" in Russia.
Musk data map
To be precise, Russia does not specifically target Starlinks. At the second symposium of the Open Working Group on , UN "Responsible Outer Space Act" opened on September 12, Russian representative Konstantin Vorontsov said that the "situation in Ukraine" highlights the practice of the United States and its allies to achieve military goals using "civil space facilities" and these "quasi-civilian facilities" that "indirectly participate in military conflicts" are "reasonable targets."
Starlink "Barish Development"
Musk officially announced the Starlink plan in 2015. He said that there are still many places around the world that lack network connections and can be solved through satellite . Since then, SpaceX has spent tens of billions of dollars on research and development of Starlink facilities and systems, and launched the first batch of satellites operating at the end of 2019. In early 2021, Starlink began to accept customer orders.
Starlink 2019 trial satellite map (Photo source: SpaceX)
Relying on the launch price advantage of "SpaceX", Starlink has 2,941 satellites in operation and more than 500,000 Starlink Internet service users so far; according to the monthly user fee of US$110, Starlink's annual revenue is at least US$600 million. Musk estimated at a press conference in 2019 that the revenue generated by the launch of the rocket business to "SpaceX" "will not exceed $3 billion", and Starlink can provide $30 billion in annual revenue within a few years, becoming the main business of "SpaceX".
According to the plan announced by "SpaceX", the complete Starlink network will contain 12,000 satellites, which may be expanded to 42,000 satellites in the future. Among them, 4425 satellites will be deployed in low-Earth orbits 1150 kilometers to 1325 kilometers above the earth, transmitting data between Ku and Ka band ; another 7518 satellites will be deployed in extremely low-Earth orbits between 335 kilometers to 346 kilometers above the earth, transmitting data in V-band. These satellites achieve all-round signal coverage of the earth through communication with ground base stations, ground terminals and other starlink satellites.
htmlOn 19, Musk announced on Twitter that Starlink has covered seven continents around the world.Musk’s Twitter screenshot
However, Starlink’s “barbaric development” has caused concerns from many parties. Experts pointed out that the Earth's low orbit can accommodate about 50,000 satellites, and "SpaceX" uses its current price advantage to "lose land" and "monopolize strategic resources", which may indirectly deprive other companies and countries of space rights.
In addition, Starlink has cooperated with the US military many times. For example, in 2019, SpaceX received funding from the U.S. Air Force to test encrypted Internet services for Starlink satellites and military aircraft. In October 2020, "SpaceX" won a $150 million contract from the US Space Development Agency (SDA) to develop a dual-purpose military-civilian Starlink satellite for the initial missile warning and tracking system for the Future Defense Space Architecture (NDSA); the system was described by some media as the "new version of the Star Wars Plan." Starlink originally planned to launch the first batch of military satellite this month, but it was delayed until December due to "difficulty in obtaining wireless microelectronic components". Since 2021, the staff responsible for the development of the Starlink military satellite project "SpaceX" is retired four-star general Terrence O'Shaughnessy.
In 2019, Musk took a photo with Terrence Oshoenesi before retirement (Photo source: US Northern Command)
Although "SpaceX" said that the Starlink satellite can automatically avoid collisions based on real-time data, its satellites approached my country's "Tiangong" space station twice last year. "Tiangong" took the initiative to take emergency collision avoidance both times for safety reasons, avoiding collision risks. Afterwards, the US and SpaceX were not completely transparent, and the defenses of both sides made it difficult for China to convince.
Even in the United States, Starlink cannot escape the trouble. On August 10, the Federal Communications Commission suddenly rejected the subsidy it allocated to "SpaceX" in 2020 for building a U.S. rural Internet system because it believed that Starlink "has not proven to be able to provide the service.""SpaceX" filed a complaint on September 9, saying that the Federal Communications Commission's "requests are not met." Previously, the Federal Communications Commission had a "good relationship" with Musk, approved its Starlink satellite launch plan and allowed it to purchase Twitter , although Musk himself later "repent".
Medvedev : In the future, consider destroying Starlink
Since the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Russia has also begun to "focus on" Starlink. Of course, Musk himself is indispensable in this. On February 26, Musk responded to the request for help from the Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister, saying that Starlink has been launched in Ukraine.
Musk’s Twitter screenshot
At that time, Starlink was vigorously promoting its services; Musk himself stated in June 2021 that there will be 500,000 Starlink users in one year. And Ukraine is having this demand, and both sides hit it off. Thanks to at least 20,000 Starlink terminals and at least 150,000 users in Ukraine, Musk was able to achieve his "small goal" on time, while Ukraine could still be connected to the Internet when power outages and Internet infrastructure was blown up.
A Ukrainian soldier named Eugene told the Kiev Independent that he used starlinks every day to keep in touch with his family and fly drones. According to the Kiev Independent, the Starlink terminal located in the village quickly transmitted the data obtained from the Ukrainian front to the command center to conduct data analysis here, and based on this, it launched a strike on Russian military facilities.
htmlOn March 3, Musk said that Starlink is the "only communication system operating in some parts of Ukraine, so it is very likely to suffer a blow.Musk’s Twitter screenshot
On April 16, someone pretended to be the ruling Russian party “ Unified Russian Party ” and released a message saying that the party’s chairman Medvedev “ordered the destruction of the Starlink satellites located in the territory of the Russian Federation, the Military Special Operations Zone and the Black Sea Basin” to ensure the safety of all troops participating in the special military operations. In response to this, the "United Russian Party" refuted the rumors. However, Medvedev himself said that destroying Starlinks is a "fresh idea" and "it's too early to execute now", but "will consider it" in the future.
Medvedev Telegram channel message screenshot
Although "SpaceX" does not charge the Ukrainian government or the public, internal documents show that United States Agency for International Development (USAID) paid some terminals such as transportation, costs, etc. for some terminals, including US$1,500 paid for some Starlink terminals, while the terminal market price is less than US$600.
In addition to providing continuous support to Starlink, the United States also conducts military cooperation with other satellite companies. On May 25, the U.S. National Reconnaissance Agency (NRO) signed a multi-billion-dollar Optoelectronics Commercial Layer (EOCL) contract with satellite companies "BlackSky", Maxar and Planet Labs (Planet), the largest commercial imaging contract in history. US media generally believe that this stems from the role these companies play in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict in the interests of the West.
McSa Technology's "highlight moment" in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict occurred in April. After the Russian army retreated from the surrounding area of Kiev, Western countries used the images provided by McSa Technology to attempt to "prove" the Russian army's "Trama" in which they carried out. In response, the Russian side has stated that no Bucha residents suffered violence, and all photos and videos released by Ukraine accusing Russian troops of "crime" are "provocations".
The images provided by McSa Technology were used by the West to attack Russia
, and "BlackSky" specifically aimed at better covering the Ukrainian area, adjusted its satellite scheduled to launch on April 2 and placed it in a higher dimensional orbit; its satellite uses AI and sensing data technology to detect some situations on the ground even in cloudy conditions. "BlackSky" and the Planetary Laboratory also provide many images with intelligence value to the West and Ukraine.
"BlackSky" imagery in many places in Ukraine in early April
At the second symposium of the United Nations Open Working Group on "Responsible Outer Space Act" on the 12th, Dmitry Stefanovich, a researcher at the International Security Center and IMEMO RAS, believes that space has played a decisive role in supporting ground operations. He pointed out that satellites provide intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, target positioning and communications, and have a certain degree of deniability; more and more companies are playing a role in this field.
These satellite companies may be Russia’s warning targets on the 12th.
Space law is not yet perfect
In his speech on the 12th, the Russian representative believed that the practice of Western countries to achieve military goals with private satellites endangered the sustainability of the peaceful use of outer space. This "provocative" satellite usage may violate the provisions of the Outer Space Treaty on the peaceful use of space and should be condemned by the international community.
The Treaty of Outer Space is the basis of the current law of the universe and establishes that the universe is shared by all mankind. The treaty is short: in the Chinese version, the word "peace" appears 11 times. Among them, the most direct provision for the peaceful use of space is the article 4 "Each contracting party must use the moon and other celestial bodies absolutely for peaceful purposes." However, in terms of satellite orbit, the treaty does not directly mention its peaceful use except for prohibiting the deployment of weapons of mass destruction. The preface mentions that "exploring and utilizing outer space for peaceful development is the common interest of all mankind", but it has no legal effect.
The Outer Space Treaty was signed in 1967, when it was in the mid-term stalemate of the Cold War . Both the United States and the Soviet Union hoped to achieve a certain degree of arms control to control the risks of war (especially nuclear war ) and reduce military spending. At that time, the two countries had just begun to achieve soft landing on the moon in 1966, so the demilitarization of celestial bodies would not harm the vested interests of either party, but the existing intercontinental missiles and other projects in the two countries made it difficult to completely demilitarize space.
The Outer Space Treaty was signed in 1967 (Photo source: AP)
Considering the historical limitations of the Outer Space Treaty, many countries have proposed various improvement ideas in recent years to further promote the peaceful use of space. In 2008, China and Russia jointly proposed the draft outer space treaty (PPWT), which was updated in 2014. It is the only formal proposal in the field of international legal instruments for preventing an outer space arms race. The draft explicitly prohibits the placement of weapons in outer space, prohibits the use of or threatening the use of force on outer space objects, and other actions or actions such as the use of weapons in outer space.
At the first session of the United Nations Open Working Group on “Responsible Outer Space Act” in May this year, Ambassador Li Song, representative of China, and representatives of Russia, once again proposed the draft outer space treaty, hoping that all countries would adopt it. Ambassador Li Song pointed out that the commercial aerospace departments of some countries have participated in large quantities of military aerospace activities, objectively accelerating the expansion of outer space military equipment and blurring the boundaries of military and civil activities. He also criticized the practices of "individual countries sticking to Cold War thinking ", promoting the "dominate outer space" strategy, defining outer space as a "combat territory", forming the outer space force and outer space command, and integrating commercial space into the outer space combat system. In 2019, the United States established the world's only " Space Force " that exists as an independent service.
Ambassador Li Song delivered a speech
Russian representatives emphasized many times at both meetings that "space facilities should be used to attack any targets on the earth, in the air or outer space."
However, the focus of various countries on this issue is different. Associate Professor of at Beijing Institute of Technology said in his introduction on the 12th that countries have completely different understandings of how to define "space threats". Only when all parties reach a consensus on "threats" can they begin to discuss in detail how to stipulate the code of conduct.
On the 17th after the Russian representative made a speech, Musk hurriedly posted a Twitter, emphasizing that Starlink should only be used peacefully.
Musk's Twitter screenshot
