is no longer installed. The target of "Starlink Satellite" can no longer be hidden. After Musk's "Starlink Satellite" was put to trial use on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield, SpaceX company recently suddenly announced a brand new business: StarShield, which is specifically designed to serve the government, national defense and intelligence departments.
So what exactly is Star Shield? How do we defend against this?
1. What is Star Shield?
Judging from the limited information disclosed by SpaceX, this is a brand new plan that specifically serves the U.S. military and can be paired with the " Starlink " system to "provide earth observation, communications and hosted payload services to government entities.".
SpaceX describes the business this way: "StarShield" will use the "Starlink" satellite constellation in low-Earth orbit to meet the growing needs of U.S. defense and intelligence agencies.
It is very clear that "Starlink" cannot meet the needs of these military customers, so Musk has launched a new plan, which can be regarded as version 2.0 of Starlink. It also completely exposed the lie that "Starlink satellites is a civilian technology for commercial services."
The specific number of satellites to be launched in this business has not been stated yet. The editor has roughly figured it out by consulting the data. After the article, I will make an estimate and first talk about its three major features:
. Earth observation.
Star Shield satellites can detect the earth in low orbit by carrying a variety of payloads. This means that if the number is large enough, the previously adopted "concealment measures" such as avoiding the transit time of reconnaissance satellites will be ineffective. Just like there are countless mosquitoes around you, no matter how good your defense is, you may get bitten.
. Encrypted communication.
The satellites of the Star Shield program will use laser communications and be encrypted. This kind of encrypted laser communication is not only between the sky and the earth, but also between satellites and between satellites and payloads.
This means that the system is naturally defensive and decentralized. This means that losing a satellite will not affect the operation of the system at all. At the same time, it is very likely that it has the ability to intercept other people's communications.
. Management payload.
The so-called "load" here can be a reconnaissance device or an attack device. After a little research, it is not difficult to find the commercial contract information between the US military and SpaceX since 2018. It is not difficult to find that their cooperation includes external early warning, optical imaging, data transmission, etc.
Although the specific project is difficult to guess, it is most likely to provide services in optical imaging, electronic reconnaissance jammers, situational awareness , and anti-missile system .
Jin Yinan analyzed: After the "Starlink" system is upgraded to "StarShield", it will be able to effectively manage ballistic missiles launched by the United States, that is, it can effectively manage the payload of aircraft orbiting Earth orbit at high speed.
The payload mentioned here is nuclear weapon , nuclear warhead . what does that mean? In other words, in the future, the "Star Shield" system can effectively manage the nuclear weapons and nuclear warheads orbiting the earth at high speed, such as when to launch attacks, which targets to attack, and when and from which point to penetrate.
2. What are the advantages of Star Shield?
First, it can borrow orbital resources that have been approved by the "Starlink" project.
Judging from the current situation, it is likely that this has been done. Space
On December 3, SpaceX announced the Star Shield project in a low-key manner. Even Musk, who has always been high-profile, rarely posted on social media. The connection between the two cannot be explained by coincidence. It is very likely that the Star Shield Project will use these 7,500 orbital resources.
Second, flexibility and expansion capabilities, as well as rapid development and deployment capabilities.
Star Shield satellite adopts modular design . As long as the corresponding module is replaced, different functions can be achieved. Coupled with its powerful launch capabilities and relatively small rocket launch costs, it will become a competitive force that cannot be ignored.
3. General Jin Yinan’s analysis
In this regard, General Jin Yinan issued a warning: The strategic balance we talked about in the past was nuclear balance and nuclear deterrence, but now the "Star Shield" system may bring new imbalances.
In his analysis, he said: Starlink satellites performed exceptionally well on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. Although Russia took some countermeasures, they failed, which allowed the US military to see its charm.
So the U.S. military and Musk reached an agreement to turn "Starlink" into "StarShield". The service targets will be different, the specifications will be higher, the functions will be more complex, and the number of satellites launched will be higher.
Jin Yinan emphasized: The transformation from "Starlink" to "StarShield" will bring great convenience to the United States in terms of reconnaissance, intelligence collection and attacking opponents. But this is definitely not good news for the entire world, and this must arouse people's great concern.
If once the Star Shield is completed and the US military relies on mature commercial companies to upgrade existing technology, then the "Star Wars" plan may turn from an ideal into a reality. Its essence is still the United States' ambition to pursue military hegemony in space.
Jin Yinan said that the biggest thing this gives us is actually to make full use of folk technology. In today's era, if a country wants to build and consolidate national defense, it must make full use of "external brains", make full use of existing science and technology, and give full play to the ingenuity of young people.
4. How do we deal with Star Shield?
During the construction phase of our space station , we encountered two Starlink satellites maneuvering to change orbit and approach our space station. I sent a note about this. The US response was also very simple, that is, the distance has not yet reached the standard, otherwise they will issue a reminder.
In fact, from the monitoring point of view, the distance is very close, and there is overlap. Because we have to consider how to defend ourselves.
There are three ways to solve the problem: blocking, tracking, and destroying.
A single satellite is okay, but satellites spread all over the world will obviously not be effective enough if covert measures are taken or they operate at staggered peaks. Therefore, in order to achieve countermeasures, proactive measures can only be taken.
, for example, launches anti-satellite weapon , but it is not satisfactory in terms of cost performance and effect. Russia launched an anti-satellite missile on November 15, 2021, which destroyed a satellite in a 480-kilometer orbit, but produced a large amount of debris, seriously threatening the safety of other satellites and man-made aircraft.
In terms of cost, an anti-satellite missile costs several million US dollars, but a Starlink satellite only costs 500,000 US dollars, and the Falcon rocket can launch 60 missiles at a time, so the cost is extremely low.
Faced with the huge number of Starlink and StarShield satellite groups, it is obviously not cost-effective to launch anti-satellite missiles. It will also cause the entire low-Earth orbit to face a crisis, which will lead to actions by various countries. The consequences can be imagined.
Similarly, even if high-power lasers are deployed on the ground to destroy them, they will still face the problem of space debris.
Then we can only take a more direct approach: "space fishing". Launch a specialized aircraft to conduct concentrated salvage operations, then tow it into the atmosphere and crash, or transport it to the space cemetery.Of course, this puts forward higher requirements for aerospace technology .
In short, the militarization of space affects the entire human race. Preventing an arms race in outer space may be our eternal topic.
