On June 16, Wu Zongxin, director of the Taiwan Provincial Space Bureau, revealed Taiwan's latest research results to the outside world in an interview. "Taiwan is developing a new satellite constellation that flies over the mainland six times a day," Wu said. In less than a month, the movements of the PLA will be ascertained. ”
Photo: Taiwan's "Space Agency Director" Wu Chung-shin (left)
The satellite constellation Wu Zongxin is talking about is a satellite system called Formosat-9 (Formosa 9), also known as Fuwei 9 for short. There are nine out of one, and the satellites that Taiwan has launched and launched so far include Fuwei 1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. In the second half of this year, Taiwan will also launch Fuwei-8. As for the Fuwei 9 mentioned by Wu Zongxin, it is still under development.
Why are there no Fuwei IV and VI? Yes, but the launch plan was canceled. For example, due to corruption cases in the manufacturing process, the planned launch of Fuwei IV was postponed to become Fuwei 5. In 2012, Taiwan also planned to launch Fuwei-6 on its own, but due to immature technology, it finally continued the model of No. 1 to 5, launched from abroad, and renamed Fuwei-7.
It can be seen from the cancellation of Fuwei-6 that Taiwan's desire to launch satellites basically relies on foreign countries - the United States. Not only that, but even the manufacture of satellites is a joint venture. For example, Fuwei III, the total cost is as high as 100 million US dollars. Among them, Taiwan contributed 80% and the United States contributed 20%.
Pictured: Fuwei 5
What is the quality of the Fuwei-9 developed by Taiwan, which does not even have the ability to launch? Is it really possible to find out the movements of our army in a month?
For Fuwei-9, Wu Zongxin said: "Its core is the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system, which can be used in bad weather conditions and at night compared to general optical imaging systems. Especially the advantage of using at night allows our satellites to fly over the continent 6 times in a day. This means that it only takes a month to understand the life patterns of the PLA. ”
Admittedly, compared with previous satellites, Fuwei-9 has made great progress. For example, the synthetic aperture radar used breaks through the drawbacks that the optical system cannot take pictures in bad weather. However, it is very unrealistic for Taiwan to monitor the movements of our military and even find out the habits of our military.
Pictured: Another satellite that Taiwan will launch in the second half of this year
Even the United States cannot do this, so why does Taiwan think it can do it? What's more, if Taiwan wants to launch Fuwei-9, there is still a long way to go.
First, a satellite cannot "monitor" the Earth. Take Musk's Starlink as an example, because its service objects cover the world, the number of satellites required is extremely large, which is currently close to 1,500. During the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Starlink also helped Ukraine solve the problem of communication interruption. The Fuji 9 studied by Taiwan needs at least 120 to achieve the purpose of monitoring the earth.
What is the concept of 120 pieces? So far, Taiwan does not even have rockets capable of launching satellites, let alone launching 120 satellites. Even with the help of the United States, Taiwan wants to launch 120 satellites, which will not be possible in a year or two.
Figure: Net transmission deck breakage
Secondly, what about filming? In fact, countries all over the world are monitored by various satellites on a daily basis. But what the satellite sees is very different from the actual situation. For example, some time ago, US satellites photographed our Fujian ship docked in the port. Satellite images show that a long "crack" also appeared on the deck of the Fujian ship.
As soon as the news came out, many foreign media commented: "Made in China is not good, Fujian ships are cracked." "But in practice, this crack may be caused by light or running water tests. Not only that, but the satellite's "God perspective" often can't tell whether it's a weapon or an ordinary object. For example, a missile base somewhere in our army. The missiles that stand up from space are not much different from the oil drums that are placed, they are all a circle.
Finally, current countermeasures are already advanced. For the means of countering satellites, there are mainly two. One is blinding, and the other is hiding and camouflaging.
Pictured: Laser-blinded satellite
Let's start with satellite blinding. Satellites can't keep staring at a point, but constantly fly around the Earth. Not only that, but this way of flying is very regular. In 2006, our military used a high-energy laser beam to blind a U.S. spy satellite flying over China for 15 minutes. Of course, there are so many satellites in the sky that blinding by high-energy laser beams alone is far from enough. Therefore, we also need to hide and camouflage.
Photo: News coverage in 2007
Let's talk about hiding and camouflage. The mainland's nuclear submarine base in Qingdao directly repaired the dock under water. Whether it goes out or comes back, the satellite cannot be seen. What about airplanes? Submarines have docks, hangars for aircraft. For some new fighters, hangars are often built for them. In and out of the hangar, they are towed by tractors.
On the other hand, as I said above, the timing of the appearance of satellites is regular, and there is an anti-satellite reconnaissance unit under our army [the Second Artillery]. Based on the satellite's information in orbit, the unit predicts when the satellite will next appear over China. At this point, it is enough to hide the vehicles and weapons that need to be kept secret.
Pictured: The F22 is being towed out of the hangar
Therefore, this is why they are trained to hide and camouflage when they train in the wild, in order to avoid spy satellites flying over China. Seeing this, the author will remind you that the military vehicles on the road, the warships at sea, just look at it, and you must not take pictures.
There are always some brain-dead people who say that since they take it out, they are not afraid of being photographed, and satellites can also see it. But, as I said above. What was photographed by the satellite was very different from the actual situation. For example, the erected missiles and oil drums are all a circle from satellites. Judging from the photos of mobile phones, as long as people are not stupid, they know the difference between missiles and oil barrels.