The silence of the signal. Why cosmic obstacles are a new norm in martial arts
However, I was surprised to find that the forces of strategic support for the People's Liberation Army of China were discussing their views on American and Russian obstacles in space. This is not a typical topic that the People's Liberation Army includes the agenda of its strategic defense initiative. I thought: is a global military muffle of outer space a normal phenomenon? It turned out that deliberate muffling is more common than it could be assumed from very scanty lighting in the media.
My studies have shown that the Chinese military consider the silence of a signal in outer space by common practice among space states. In this regard, they claim that they have developed an experimental spacecraft to work out obstruction of signals of satellites from the Earth's geosynchronous orbit. Focus has translated the article by Christine Burke about how obstacles from space become a new military norm.
Researchers from the People's Liberation Army report that their experimental muffler is aimed at communication satellites. Depending on the location and capacity of the "gluten", it may interfere with other communication satellites located near or lower orbits. It is capable of harming any country that uses communication satellites near China, including partners and allies of the United States.
The US Armed Forces depend largely on satellite communications during the projection of force and therefore developed a whole set of obstacles protection. However, cyber pennies using an electromagnetic spectrum, sometimes called radio frequency cyber -frames, still causes fears even in space. The current cosmic rules and treaties do not contain a direct prohibition on the creation of obstacles in space, remembering only those that cause harm.
The United States and a number of other countries have expressed anxiety about this, signaling that some of them have already encountered cases of deliberate harmful muffling from space. The People's Liberation Army only recently wrote that, in her opinion, in the US and Russia, there are already space-based muffins. If the United States wants to influence the further behavior of their rivals, it is necessary to improve information and continue international interaction.
Meanwhile, gradual improvements in the realm of transparency and technologies can solve the eternal problem of accusing the enemy in creating deliberate obstacles. Increasing the awareness of the space industry about interference in the spectrum and readiness to report anomalies and cybernetic interventions is one of the best ways to support politicians in ensuring further protection of US military communication and leading international discussions.
Judging by the materials submitted by States to the resolution 75/36 of the UN General Assembly of 2021 and the open -worked working group to reduce space threats through rules, rules and principles of responsible behavior that has recently completed work, the problem of obstacles to military cosmic means in peacetime deserves to A broader discussion.
In the materials represented by the United States, threats such as "Cosmos -Kosmos" and "Space -Earth" are considered as separate categories other than "Earth -Kosmos" type threats, and radio frequency obstacles are called a specific threat in each category. Depending on the range of the spectrum, the Space -Earth can interfere with the Space -Cossmos signal. Recently, US allies and partners have also raised questions about space -based obstacles as one of the problems of space security.
The material represented by the UK working group states that obstacles directed from space into space, even if used only for experiments, can lead to misunderstanding and unintentional escalation. The materials presented for resolution 75/36 have considered interference of communications resulting from uncoordinated operations in space.
The materials submitted by the French government to the 75/36 resolution and the working group also concerned the interference of space base, although the written materials do not indicate the difference between the categories of "space -land" and "space -cosmos". However, France included obstacles to both cosmic and ground base, among the three major cosmic threats.
Brazil also directly pointed to the obstacles created by the space sensors in its report, and mentioned the "electronic attack" in space among four major types of threats, without determining the differences between the categories of "space -cosmos" and "space -land" at the same time. The Chinese delegation in its submission to resolution 75/36 touched only the question of obstacles "Earth -Cossmos". Russia did not mention obstacles in any of its materials.
If representatives of countries in the UN discuss obstacles from space as a threat, it can be a common occurrence that goes beyond unintentional obstacles or cosmic weather. This forced me to analyze the US military doctrine and budget requests concerning space operations and radio frequency spectrum. According to the results of the analysis, none of them have no direct references to the interference of space base.
However, these documents contain general plans for counteraction and "off the offensive". Some US media reports about US Space Forces training in orbit, US politicians' statement as a "normal phenomenon", requests of the Ministry of Defense on the Space Budget, which include "offensive opportunities", may give the impression that the United States consider Military muffling in space is appropriate and necessary.
The consequences of silent glutening in space deserve a broader discussion at the internal and international level and correspond to the US statement at the UN General Assembly, which contains a similar call for a deeper discussion. At least some of the strategic support of the Chinese People's Liberation Army forces believe that the United States and Russia already have spacecraft in orbit, capable of seducing satellite and cross-link.
In 2019, one of the units of strategic support of the People's Liberation Army published a scientific assessment of the Russian satellite "Luch-Olymp", noting that the satellite contains offensive useful load, probably implying a useful load for electronic interference, given the frequency of its frequency rapprochement with non -Russian communication satellites.
Another unit of strategic support for 2020 has published work on American electronic obstacles for satellites, including American systems in geosynchronous Earth orbit, capable of mocking other satellites. According to the authors of the work, the Satellites of the Geosynchronous Situable Awareness Program and other national security satellites are able to interfere with space.
Perhaps the development of their own experimental obstacle system in the orbit of the Chinese has been pushed by the fact that other leading countries already have orbital jackets, as well as their desire to weaken the US opportunity to use satellites in potential conflict with China.
At least, according to the technical reports of strategic support forces, by 2020, they tested the experimental interference system in orbit, after which they concluded that there was a need to develop interference facilities in the ca-range. At the end of 2022, strategic support forces received a patent for the invention of a way to evaluate the efficiency of the obstacle system in the orbit and electronic reconnaissance of the satellite.
None of these documents discuss the goals and intentions of strategic support forces, as well as specific satellites, but at least they indicate that the forces have been set by developers and satellite operators to study the possibilities of obstruction in orbit. Many legal interpretations indicate that the military gluten of space base is not prohibited.
Article 48 of the Statute of the International Telecommunication Union gives freedom to military radios, but requires them, if possible, to comply with the provisions to prevent "harmful obstacles".
The agreement on the principles of states in the study and use of space, including the month and other celestial bodies (also known as the Space Treaty) provides for the mechanism of consultation on the foreseeable "harmful obstacles", but directly forbids only nuclear weapons and other types of weapons of mass destruction.
The Statute of the International Telecommunication Union defines harmful obstacles as "obstacles that threaten the functioning of the radioalogation service or other security services, or seriously worsen, complicate or repeatedly interrupt the work of the radio communication service in accordance with the Radio Regulation.
" The examples of how the United States, their allies and partners consider interference of space base as a threat to security, indicate the need to further discuss this topic and justify the threat. Since 2014, the International Telecommunication Union has collected reports of international satellite operators about harmful obstacles that can come from both space and ground sources. According to the Union, the number of such cases has increased significantly.
This indicator should be treated with caution, since the International Telecommunication Union does not take into account either the amount of messages nor the increase in the acquaintance of satellite operators with the reporting mechanism, nor increasing the number of satellites. However, this information is one of several starting points for in -depth discussions. Other organizations also work on obtaining the specified data on deliberate harmful obstacles.
For example, Space Data Association is a non -profit organization that brings together satellite operators - working on "Creating a Database on Obstacles and Geolocation Data. " Data transmitted to Space Data Association, according to the definition contained in the membership Agreement, can be used to confirm complaints filed with the International Telecommunication Union.
The new organization of space security of space systems, called Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center, also provides participants with the opportunity to exchange information about various types of electromagnetic interference, including replacing space signals into space and introducing harmful programs. Today, it is easiest to identify obstacles directed from Earth into space.
To more accurately determine the sources of space base obstacles, the US Department of Defense has already assumed the development of space base technologies to evaluate the local space weather environment on the spacecraft. This will continue to maintain efforts to attribute deliberate obstacles. Although many organizations provide reports of space weather events, such as solar outbreaks that affect many satellites, some satellites can be uniquely influenced by the environment.
As such systems integrate into the highly valuable satellites of the Ministry of Defense, military reporting processes and interference evaluation will become more effective for determining deliberate interference into orbit. The United States, their allies and partners have already raised the issues of interference of space base in international forums, so the United States has the opportunity to lead deeper discussions.
The UN document presented in the UN states that "radio frequency obstacles" and "interference with safety -related space systems" include topics that "need additional discussion". The Ministry of Defense has already undertaken to avoid "harmful obstacles" in their "principles of responsible behavior in space", which was published in mid -2021.
The attribution of deliberate interference of outer space is increasingly achievable with the help of new technologies of monitoring of local spacecraft of the local space apparatus. A more active discussion of this topic can also help clarify the identification of harmful obstacles.
The representation of strategic support that the US and Russia already have spacecraft, capable of interference of space base, can lead to misunderstandings and escalation, especially in the absence of military interaction. Working within the UN deepening discussion on deliberate muffling space will help to inform this threat more wider than the states and further assert American leadership in space.
Christine Berk is a senior researcher on space and anticossmic defense at the Chinese Aerospace Institute at the University of Air Force. Before he came to the institute, she held the position of Deputy Director of National Intelligence in Space in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and Analytics on China and Technology in the State Department. Speaks Chinese and studies aerospace.