Elon Musk vs China: Experts plan to destroy Starlink Satellites to protect 'national security'

A group of Chinese military experts produced a study calling for anti-satellite capabilities that might be used to sabotage Elon Musk's Starlink satellites if necessary.According to the South China Morning Post, the study was led by Ren Yuanzhen, a researcher with the Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications, and co-authored by scientists from China's defence industry.

According to the report, "a mix of soft and hard kill methods " might be employed to disable some Starlink satellites.

Starlink is a satellite constellation system run by Musk's SpaceX company that has 2,400 satellite relays in low-earth orbit that can send super-fast internet data everywhere on the planet, according to the latest count.

It has been praised for bringing speedy internet to developing countries and remote parts of the globe, but Beijing is cautious of its potential military implications.

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Ren Yuanzhen, a researcher with the PLA's Strategic Support Force's Beijing Institute of Tracking and Telecommunications, led the study. Several renowned scientists from China's defence industry were among the co-authors.

Musk's SpaceX has signed a deal with the US Department of Defense to use the Starlink platform for military purposes, including the development of sensitive instruments capable of detecting and tracking hypersonic weapons travelling at five times the speed of sound in the Earth's atmosphere, a technology that Beijing is known to be working on.

Ren's team believes that the thousands of Starlink satellites strewn across the sky - with filings indicating that SpaceX plans to launch as many as 30,000 in the next decade - are also equipped with ion thrusters that enable them to change orbits quickly and transform into low-earth battering rams against high-value targets in space.

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