Scientists from China say they can re-purpose the satellites in Elon Musk’s SpaceX network of “Starlink” network to detect enemy fighter jets.
Starlink is Musk’s network of communications satellites that provide fast internet connections to users. According to Chinese media, a team of researchers have discovered that they can detect an enemy fighter plane by noticing how it disrupts electromagnetic waves from a Starlink satellite when a plane crosses “in front” of the line of sight to that satellite.
The group set up ground radar, then launched a small DJI Phantom 4 Pro drone to play the part of an enemy fighter jet. When the drone passed between the ground radar and the Starlink satellite, the scientists could detect the disruption of the satellite signal and get a fix on the drone.
This has huge implications for the use of stealth or “cloaked” military jets, such as the B-2 Spirit made by Northrop Grumman. These jets are designed to have a shape that makes it hard for radar systems to detect them. Combined with surface materials that do not bounce radio waves back (that’s how radar works), stealth planes are much harder to detect than ordinary aircraft.
If Chinese researchers have figured out how to defeat such technology by using the interference from a satellite, designers of spy planes may have to up their game.
That is exactly what the Chinese group is claiming. They say their detection method is “unaffected by the target’s three-dimensional shape and surface material.” They published their results last month in the Journal of Signal Processing. Going further, the team wrote that their method has vastly improved the detection of small objects and “stealth” craft, which China can use for a competitive edge.
There are thousands of satellites orbiting the Earth, and more are launched all the time. As the network of satellites increases in density, it may become more difficult for countries to use stealth craft to avoid detection by adversarial nations.
The system is in the early stages, though, and has only proven itself capable of detecting fairly small targets such as drones. It remains to be seen if this method will allow ground radar crews to pinpoint the location of full-sized fighter craft.
