Germany blocks full Chinese takeover of satellite startup
techxplore.com
Germany has blocked a complete Chinese takeover of a satellite startup on national security grounds, sources close to the matter told AFP Thursday, as Berlin takes an increasingly hard line against Beijing.

The German tech company KLEO Connect aims to establish its own network of satellites in low Earth orbit that can provide internet to remote locations, hoping to rival Starlink.

  • 0x815@feddit.deOPEnglish
    0·
    1 year ago

    @Sigmatics

    Good luck competing with SpaceX on the cost front.

    This is not an economic issue but rather one on human rights and democracy. I don’t think it’s a good idea to become dependent on a single company and/or a single government (Elon Musk has agreed to sell a portion of Starlink assets to the U.S. Department of Defense as you may know)

    Not even getting started on the whole space trash issue. Starlink has 4500 satellites in orbit and is launching more every week.

    Space debris is a real issue which threatens humanity even in the short term. And it is another reason for international collaboration as we should not allow a single company “launching more satellites every week” without reaching an irrevocable and immutable agreement that it is for the good of all the people on earth (see my other comment in this thread).

    [Edited for a typo.]

    • Gamey@feddit.deEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      About the space trash issue, that’s a really hard one but low orbit satelites don’t really contribute because they fall and burn down if they ever stop moving. There is a awesome clip online where a bunch of them go down and look like a metrior shower, kind of beatiful and nice to watch Musks money burn!

    • nxfsi@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      1 year ago

      That’s how you get space trash like GLONASS and beidou. Their only purpose is being “not GPS”.

      • tormeh@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        0·
        1 year ago

        So, you see, these projects are primarily for warfare. Civilian applications are often permitted but that’s not the point of those projects.

          • federalreverse-old@feddit.deEnglish
            0·
            1 year ago

            Wait what? Shouldn’t that enable the US to end this war relatively easily? They could instantly break a lot of the advanced weaponry of Russians by disabling GPS for them.

            • tryptaminev 🇵🇸 🇺🇦 🇪🇺@feddit.deEnglish
              0·
              1 year ago

              No they couldn’t. GPS works by sending the time stamps and position of the satellite. By measuering the difference between when the signals reach the gps device it can triangulate its position.

              There is the civillian coarse and an encrypted fine version for the military. I think the US will not allow the Ukrainians access to the second and their tech is probably not suitable for it.

              If they cut GPS it cuts for everyone in that area.