Starlink in danger? Researchers say China set to launch almost 13,000 satellites

China could be planning to wage a space war against billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink satellite network and break its hegemony. According to researchers, China is planning to construct a massive satellite network code named as "GW" to offer internet services to users all around the world, thus dethroning Starlink.

A team led by associate professor Xu Can with the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Space Engineering University in Beijing has said that China's constellation will consist of 12,992 satellites that will be under the ownership of the newly-established China Satellite Network Group Co, South China Morning Post reported.

The constellation will be set up rather quickly, even “before the completion of Starlink," the researchers said in a paper published in the Chinese journal Command Control and Simulation on February 15. This would “ensure that our country has a place in low orbit and prevent the Starlink constellation from excessively pre-empting low-orbit resources”, they wrote.

Chinese satellites could 'suppress Starlink'

While it is unclear when the Chinese satellites will be launched, it is certain that they would rival SpaceX's plans of having 12,000 satellites orbiting the earth by 2027. China's satellites are likely to be deployed in “orbits where the Starlink constellation has not yet reached," according to researchers, who added that this would “gain opportunities and advantages at other orbital altitudes, and even suppress Starlink." 

Furthermore, the satellites might possess features that would help them perform “close-range, long-term surveillance of Starlink satellites." However, two major communication satellite networks in the orbit might attack one another, according to a study by the China National Space Administration. “The Starlink satellites may use their orbital manoeuvrability to actively hit and destroy nearby targets in space,” the researchers said.