It’s likely that someone tried to block communication signals at a Chinese space release center, and that generates the first warning signs.
As seen through the South China Morning Post, a Chinese newspaper called Beijing Daily reports that investigators at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s Gansu province discovered the signal blocker on Sunday after weeks of “abnormal” interference that led to the search for its cause. . .
In the end, they discovered a small frequency transmitter with a diversity of about 32 feet. The device, as SCMP points out, can be purchased seamlessly from Amazon’s Chinese counterpart, Taobao, and whatever the explanation for why the device turns out there, it’s a worrying sign that devices to disrupt space launches would already be widely available.
More used in war or to suppress dissent, signal interference is an ancient generation that has been updated several times for its fashionable use since radio communications became de facto the army generation during World War II. More recently, large-scale jamming operations have made headlines as Russia seeks to disrupt GPS signals during its invasion of Ukraine.
The operation of those devices is relatively simple: by transmitting signals on the same frequencies as anything they try to block (in the case of the Chinese area center, navigation systems), the other people who said blockers can block communications to disrupt operations.
While the government is yet to say whether the device was deliberately placed to sabotage or who used it, the timing is surprising given that the device was discovered just before China sent 3 astronauts to its new station in the Tiangong area.
Despite the discovery of the device, China continues to say it will go ahead with the launch that will take 3 astronauts from the central area to Tian, passing one of the country’s Long March 2F rockets.
Despite our modern, spipply-laden iteration of the local race, this kind of possible sabotage is unmistakably bad and potentially devastating, and would be a much bigger story if it happened in the US. USA or Europe.
READ MORE: China Space Center discovers jamming device weeks before launch of space station mission in first reported incident of its kind [South China Morning Post]
Learn more about interference issues: Dad tries to disconnect the kids and cuts off the entire Internet of Down Town