Australian space industry warns against China’s satellite surveillance

Australia’s space industry issued warning against China’s satellite surveillance,Voice of America (VOA) reported.
The warning comes as Australia’s Defense Space Command says it is working on a plan to acquire so-called soft-kill technology to take out enemy satellites, Voice of America (VOA) reported. In February, the United States blew down a massive Chinese balloon that it claimed was spying on important military sites throughout America. China, though, asserted that the aircraft had veered off course and was a civilian one.
The diplomatic dispute sparked a discussion between the two concerning spying and surveillance.
Australian experts think that worries about satellite spying have been overshadowed by the balloon event, read a report in Voice of America (VOA).
James Brown, the head of the trade group the Space Industry Association of Australia, told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Saturday that China has a vast space monitoring system, Voice of America (VOA) reported.
Roberts said the number of satellites in space had more than doubled to around 8,000 as China launched more satellites than the United States did last year, Voice of America (VOA) reported.
“I think people just do not realize that every day we are being listened to and surveilled by Chinese satellites that are only 100 to 200 kilometers above our heads, and China is launching hundreds of them a year and we are seeing more and more of that activity,” Voice of America (VOA) quoted Brown as saying.
Australia’s year-old Defense Space Command is working on a plan to buy so-called soft-kill technology to destroy enemy satellites without creating dangerous debris. Instead of using missiles, Australia wants to develop its own electronic warfare capability to disrupt and disable satellites but the appropriate technology is not yet commercially available.
The command’s head, Air Vice Marshal Cath Roberts, Friday gave an update on electronic warfare capabilities and the threats to Australian satellites. She told reporters that there was a need to have “nondestructive” capabilities to deter attacks or interfere with enemy satellites.