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China Exploits Fleet of U.S. Satellites
- peteretep 7y agoIf I was America I think I’d want my rivals to be relying on technology provided by people I can bully into turning it off when needed
- fxfan 7y agoThat doesn't work. India relied on GPS and Clinton turned off (regrettably IMHO) India's access to high precision data in the 2000 Indo-Pak war. India went on to build their own. EDIT: Year was probably 1999, not sure.
- peteretep 7y ago> India went on to build their own Presumably there’s some lead time on that though
- iamshs 7y agoIndia’s NavIC is riddled with problems. Atomic clocks on some of the satellites have failed. ISRO is opaque about the malfunctions. Researchers have found that it can be easily jammed with household WiFi signals causing severe degradation of signal strength. Nobody is really using the system, all the talk has been about fishing boats carrying the receivers. India started developing after GPS was denied during Kargil War with Pakistan in 1999. More recently India’s (More like Russia’s) cruise missile, BrahMos, veered off target by 7 Kms as GPS signals were cut off mid flight. India has tried replicating GPS, but the system is still not proven.
- krtkush 7y agoCould you provide sources on all of these claims? I know the clocks were breaking down but those clocks are not made by ISRO.
- iamshs 7y agoAtomic clocks failing (4 satellites have malfunctioning clocks out of 7): https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/isros-clock-to-prop-up-indias-own-gps/article23787959.ece https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/isros-clock-to-prop-u... In one article, ISRO shared that they heaved a sigh of relief every morning on seeing that IRNSS satellites were functioning normally. ISRO is trying to replace the clocks from a Swiss manufacturer with their own. Same clocks failed on Galileo, but causes were different. BrahMos cruise missile failure: https://frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl2607/stories/20090410260704400.htm https://frontline.thehindu.com/static/html/fl2607/stories/20... WiFi jamming: https://thewire.in/space/study-says-navic-frequency-too-close-to-wifi-may-cause-interference https://thewire.in/space/study-says-navic-frequency-too-clos... Original research paper is quite damning on this one. India is now trying to be part of Galileo project: https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1156188 https://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1156188
- krtkush 7y agoThanks! The signal jamming issue is quite glaring. > India is now trying to be part of Galileo project "Now" would be a stretch, would it not? That article is from 2005.
- iamshs 7y agoMeant to post 2-3 days old article: https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1119329/india-galileo-space-sector-brexit-news-theresa-may-eu https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1119329/india-galileo-s... Original article on Business Standard is paywalled. This one is bit outlandish, but retains the essence of the article.
- bigiain 7y agoI remember talking to a sailor in the BOC Solo Round The World race in late 1990. They all knew and talked over radio to each other about "something going on" in Late July and early August - when their GPSs started reporting much more accurate CEP numbers, which allowed them to much more accurately detect the ocean currents they were sailing in and position themselves most favorably in them. Because selective availability had been switched off. They might have been the first civilians to be aware of Gulf War 1...
- Arnt 7y agoThe same thing happened north of Lofoten, in Norway. The fishermen noticed at once that their GPS waypoints were much more precise than on the day before.
- cryptonector 7y agoIf by "doesn't work" you mean "only works for a while", then there might be some value in that.
- simula67 7y agoSame with Russia. USA turned off GPS during the Russo-Georgian war. Russia went ahead to build GLONASS and it's military performance during the intervention in Syrian Civil War was much better.
- azinman2 7y agoAnyone with a WSJ account care to summarize the paywall’d article?
- shpx 7y agoOn HN, underneath the link there's a list of other links. This thing: 43 points by nwrk 2 hours ago | flag | hide | past | web | favorite | 7 comments Click on the one that says "web" then click on the WSJ url in the search results and you should get the full article.
- factsaresacred 7y agoNon-paywall version: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-exploits-fleet-of-u-s-satellites-to-strengthen-police-and-military-power/ar-BBWdrFk https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/china-exploits-fleet-of...
- factsaresacred 7y ago> U.S. officials and industry players have said the profits American satellite exports generated could be reinvested in development to keep the U.S ahead. Lease out our competitive advantage and use the revenue to build more competitive advantage! Profit maximization and national security have conflicting incentives.
- DuskStar 7y agoBecause I'm sure there are no national security benefits from having your rival route their communications over your infrastructure in such a way that you can cripple them in a conflict.
- factsaresacred 7y ago> Boeing said it...was neither possible nor required by law to monitor each bandwidth user after a satellite it built is in space. Except it's their infrastructure now.
- halter73 7y agoIf they don't own or control the satellite, it's not really their infrastructure when push comes to shove. China might have contracts guaranteeing bandwidth, but I doubt that matters much in an armed conflict.
- TheOtherHobbes 7y agoNothing would matter much in an armed conflict between the US and China.
- halter73 7y agoArmed conflict doesn't necessarily mean all out war.
- boomboomsubban 7y agoThis story can be summed up by "China buys satellite internet connection, and also has a terrible human rights record." Nothing shows any real connection between the two, and the one-sided attack is rather ridiculous. The US military helped develop this technology exactly for this purpose, and is actively using it to kill people across the world. On top of that, the main satellite they mention was sold to Pakistan a year ago, which seems worth mention if ethical concerns are the issue.
- blueboo 7y agoSome of your frustration reflects how the use of "exploits" in the headline is, for lack of a better word, problematic. In the tech news context, "exploit" has the connotation (if not denotation) of a hack or bug being used in an unintended way. In this case, the word "leverage" would be more appropriate.
- boomboomsubban 7y agoThough I see your point, "exploit" is a better choice as the entire point of the article is to say China is unethical.
- sureaboutthis 7y agoIt's on MSN. No one should expect quality or accurate or even on topic information.
- boomboomsubban 7y agoIt's a Wall Street Journal article rehosted on MSN.
- Proven 7y ago> The Chinese satellite workaround has persisted for years. Wonderful - the commies needed a bit of help until they steal all the designs and build their own. I wouldn't be surprised if the crooked Clintons were involved in designing this loophole.
- jaimex2 7y agoWelp. There goes Boeing's government contracts. Space X will be celebrating this one.
- djohnston 7y agoif by "exploit" you mean "rent capacity" then i guess... who is approving this drivel?