Do you want WiFi or do you want the stars? What the StarLink program means

Documents released on the website of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space show that the Permanent Mission of China to the United Nations (Vienna) submitted a note verbale to the Secretary-General of the United Nations in early December 2021, saying that the "Starlink" satellite launched by spaceX has approached the Chinese space station twice this year, posing a danger to the lives and health of astronauts on the space station. The Chinese space station has twice implemented "emergency collision avoidance" against US satellites, avoiding the risk of collision. Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian confirmed at a regular press conference on December 28, 2021, that in July and October 2021, the Starlink satellite launched by the US Space Exploration Technology Corporation approached the Chinese space station twice. During this period, Chinese astronauts are on missions inside the space station. For safety reasons, the Chinese space station has taken emergency collision avoidance measures.

China urges the US to prevent the recurrence of such incidents

Zhao Lijian said: The 1967 Outer Space Treaty is recognized as the cornerstone of current international law in the field of outer space. In order to fulfill its treaty obligations and safeguard the safety of astronauts' lives, the Chinese Government informed the UN Secretary-General on the above-mentioned dangerous situation and the measures taken by the Chinese side through the Permanent Mission of China in Vienna on December 3, 2021, and requested the Secretary-General to inform the States parties.

Zhao Lijian said: The United States claims the concept of "responsible outer space behavior" in its own mouth, but it ignores the obligations of international treaties on outer space, posing a serious threat to the safety of astronauts' lives. The Us side should respect the international system of outer space based on international law, take immediate measures to prevent the recurrence of such incidents, and adopt a responsible attitude to safeguard the life safety of astronauts in orbit and the safe and stable operation of space facilities.

"SpaceX is doing orbit-de-orbiting operations on satellites, and it is likely to be conducting technical tests." Relevant experts said that before the US company de-orbits the satellite, it should at least inform the regulatory bodies of the spacecraft of the countries that may be affected in advance, so that the two sides can coordinate in time and avoid risks.

The Starlink satellites encounter dangerously with the Chinese space station

In January 2015, Musk, CEO of SpaceX, proposed a "StarLink" plan to launch 12,000 satellites into low Earth orbit between 2019 and 2024 to build a giant three-tier satellite network. According to Musk, the project could provide low-cost internet connectivity services across the globe. According to the CCTV News Network reported in November 2021, the US Space Exploration Technology Company has launched a total of 1844 "StarLink" satellites since launching the "Starlink" Internet communication satellite launch program in 2018.

The three-tier satellite network is located in orbits 340 kilometers, 550 kilometers and 1150 kilometers above the ground, respectively, and finally connects all satellites into a huge "constellation" that provides all-weather, high-speed, low-cost satellite Internet services covering the entire earth (including the north and south poles).

It is reported that the original planned orbital altitude of the "Starlink" satellite is 1110 kilometers to 1325 kilometers above the ground. Space Exploration Technologies applied to the Federal Communications Commission to lower the starlink satellite deployment orbit to an altitude of 540 to 570 kilometers above the ground, saying it could reduce broadband signal latency.

The latest data released on January 1, 2022, shows that the Chinese space station has been traveling in low-Earth orbit more than 400 kilometers from Earth for more than eight months, rotating the earth more than 3,800 times.

"Starlink and the Chinese space station are both in LEO orbit (near-Earth orbit), and there are also narrow paths to meet in probability." Relevant experts pointed out that although there is an altitude difference of several hundred kilometers on the LEO track, once the "lane" is shifted, there is a risk of collision.

The Starchain-1095 satellite, which nearly collided with the Chinese space station in July 2021, has a normal altitude of 555 kilometers, and maneuvered to 382 kilometers after the formation of the Chinese space station. On October 21, 2021, the Starlink-2305 satellite once again had a close-quarters approach event with the Chinese space station.

"SpaceX is doing orbit-de-orbiting operations on satellites, and it is likely to be conducting technical tests." In the view of some experts, before the US company de-orbits the satellite, it should at least inform the regulatory agencies of the spacecraft of the countries that may be affected in advance, so that the two sides can coordinate in time and avoid risks.

Realistic controversy

Influence on astronomical observations

In May 2019, when the first 60 satellites of the StarLink program were launched, it sparked a discussion of business ethics: a company unilaterally changed the appearance of the sky, which may bring practical effects such as light pollution and space junk. One oft-cited example is the launch in Chile of a large integrated sky survey telescope with a $466 million, 8-meter-wide aperture and a 3.2 billion pixel camera, which was originally designed to quickly scan the sky in the 2020s. But with the formation of the Starlink satellite swarm, many of the images taken with this telescope have been "contaminated" by it, and photos taken with long exposures may contain dozens of stripes of satellite trajectories. The large sky survey telescope simulated the impact of future starlink satellites on observations and found that 30% of the images will contain at least one satellite trajectory. SpaceX also offers some solutions to this, but it still does not meet the requirements of professional observatories. The International Astronomical Union (IAU) issued a statement in June 2019 expressing concern that such projects could damage natural skies and interfere with radio astronomy frequencies, describing the frontier of space as "new and largely unregulated." ”

Space junk collision risk

Space junk is another concern. SpaceX said each Starlink satellite will be able to track debris in orbit and automatically avoid collisions, and automatically de-orbit after reaching its lifetime, pushing it into the atmosphere and burning up. However, if these satellites are damaged in orbit or fail to disperse successfully, they can still pose serious problems. In the first starlink launched in May 2019, 3 satellites lost contact and could not be actively controlled, thus forming space junk.

In September 2019, the European Space Agency's Fengshen meteorological satellite was forced to urgently change orbit to avoid colliding with the Starlink-44 satellite before the Chinese space station twice urgently avoided collisions with the Starlink-44 satellite. Statistics show that since the launch of the first "Starlink" satellites in May 2019, spacecraft approach events have been increasing. There are currently about 1,600 spacecraft proximity events per week linked to Starlink satellites, accounting for 50% of such events. There is also a case where two spacecraft are separated by only 1 km.

One company sets the rules of space commerce

Last December, European Space Agency Director-General Joseph Ashbacher said Europe should stop helping Elon Musk achieve his ambitions to dominate the "new space economy", and that the lack of coordinated action meant Musk could set the rules for space commerce alone. Aschbacher said that if Musk is dominant, space launch activities will be more limited in terms of frequency and orbital resources, and "European governments should have a common will ... Give European suppliers equal access to a fair market". Aschbacher said the StarLink project is already so massive that it's hard for regulators or competitors to catch up. "One person now owns half of the world's active satellites," he said. This is surprising. In fact, he's making the rules. Global parties, including Europe, have not reacted quickly enough. ”

What Starlink is going to do

The U.S. military has taken the lead in becoming the number one customer

To put it simply, the "Starlink" plan is to use tens of thousands of satellites to "wrap" the earth. According to SpaceX, the reason why so many satellites are launched is to provide high-speed Internet access to every corner of the earth, leaving no dead ends.

In the third quarter of 2021, the median download speed of "StarLink" users in the United States was 87.25Mbps, and the median upload speed was only 13.54Mbps, which was close to the fixed broadband speed and had a delay of 44 seconds. In Belgium, the median download speed of StarLink users can reach 127.46Mbps, which is higher than the fixed broadband 72.90Mbps. Early last year, SpaceX announced that the download speed of "StarLink" will reach 10Gbps in the future.

"Starlink" can provide relatively reliable network support for remote areas such as polar regions, deserts, oceans, islands, etc., and the US Air Force has taken the lead in becoming the number one customer of the "Starlink" project. In May 2020, SpaceX reached a further agreement with the U.S. military to use the Starlink satellite to test communications for the U.S. Army, with the aim of integrating it into the U.S. military's existing systems.

The "Starlink" program can observe the target for a long time on the battlefield, can transmit information directly to the command post in real time through high-precision screens, and can control the missile in real time until the completion of precision strikes. In this way, missile equipment will completely rely on the "Starlink" satellite, and the cost of missiles will be greatly reduced, which will also have a major impact on the future form of operations.

At present, the U.S. Army also needs to be equipped with a new ground terminal system to use the "Starlink", and the cost of data transmission from the "Starlink" satellite to the ground station, as well as the security of the data, also need to be further evaluated.

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The past lives of the Starlink Project

The "Iridium Project" is a new generation of satellite mobile communication constellation systems proposed by some American companies led by Motorola in 1987. In 1991, Motorola officially launched the "Iridium Program". In 1996, the first iridium star went to heaven. In 1998, the entire system was successfully put into commercial operation, ushering in a new era of personal satellite communications. Gore, the most tech-savvy vice president in U.S. history, was the first to make a call using the Iridium System. Consisting of 77 low-level satellites, a globally covered satellite system that can guarantee mobile communications anywhere on Earth. Since the metallic element iridium has 77 electrons, the program became known as the Iridium program, although the total number of moons later dropped to 66. This is a very ambitious and advanced plan, and from a technical point of view, iridium mobile communication system is very successful. However, it was a complete failure in business. Under the high investment in the project, Iridium's call fee per minute is set at three dollars per minute. In this way, Iridium's user base is greatly reduced. Less than a year after iridium systems were commercially operational, Iridium filed bankruptcy protection in the federal courts of New York on August 13, 1999. Six months later, on March 18, 2000, Iridium was officially bankrupt.

Comprehensive Xinhua News Agency CCTV News