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editor's note: in the internet age, people's daily lives are closely related to the internet, and wifi networks are almost a necessity for family life. navy ships drifting on the ocean may not be able to enjoy smooth network services due to limited communication conditions. however, according to foreign media reports, the uss lincoln, a us navy aircraft carrier, achieved wifi freedom during its overseas deployment, allowing it to surf the internet and watch live broadcasts comfortably, all thanks to elon musk's starlink system...

on february 11, 2024, on the uss lincoln aircraft carrier, which was on a mission in the far sea, the sailors parked all the aircraft in hangar 1 and hangar 3, and the vacated hangar 2 became an entertainment venue, where the soldiers ate popcorn, played video games, listened to party music, and watched the live broadcast of the super bowl football game. a projector connected to the internet projected the game screen of the san francisco 49ers vs kansas city chiefs on a 300-inch square screen, and about 800 sailors enjoyed the network streaming service in real time, which was previously only available when the warship was docked. while the live broadcast was smooth, about 1,800 officers and soldiers were connected to the ship's wifi system. these off-duty crew members used the internet to browse the wonderful outside world in the lincoln, a closed fortress at sea with thousands of people, and interacted with relatives and friends, sweeping away the loneliness of being isolated overseas for many years.

■in february 2024, officers and soldiers of the uss lincoln watched the live broadcast of the super bowl football game in the hangar.。

the uss lincoln is just the beginning. according to a report from the us navy information warfare systems command, every us navy warship will be connected to the internet, and the technical support for this is provided by low-orbit satellites represented by starlink.

for the past 30 years, communications for the u.s. navy's ocean-going ships have relied on the department of defense's military communications satellites. the six satellites are located in geostationary orbit at an altitude of approximately 36,000 kilometers, which means that the distance between the ships and the satellites is almost as long as the circumference of the earth, and the resulting delay can be as long as 600 milliseconds.

■altitude comparison between geostationary earth orbit and other lower orbits.

however, systems such as starlink and oneweb are different. their satellites are only 600 to 1,200 kilometers away from the earth. more than 7,000 satellites in orbit form a huge star network that is capable of providing faster internet connections for ships in the vast ocean. with the rapid development of communication technology today, the signal delay of low-orbit satellites can theoretically be similar to that of ground optical fibers. satellites have greatly reduced costs through integrated and modular design, and can even be compressed to less than one million us dollars. this information infrastructure that is cheap enough and can be deployed on a large scale can cross national borders, penetrate sovereignty and cover the world, and is quite robust. the damage or failure of individual nodes does not affect the internet services it carries. after technicians moved kymeta's satellite antennas and other terminal equipment onto the uss lincoln, the officers and soldiers of the ship started the happy internet time brought by low-orbit satellites.

■kemeta’s satellite antenna is installed on the uss lincoln aircraft carrier, providing smooth wifi signals for the crew.

the starlink legend

starlink is a low-earth orbit communications satellite system launched by elon musk's spacex, which can provide high-speed internet access services worldwide. in space, the system has thousands of small satellites flying in orbits hundreds or thousands of kilometers above the ground. these satellites, weighing only more than 200 kilograms, are equipped with phased array communication antennas for communicating with ground terminals, laser transponders for inter-satellite communications, and star track navigation systems for precise positioning. the satellites are powered by solar arrays and are also equipped with krypton-fueled ion thrusters for satellite altitude maintenance and orbit change.

■there are more than 6,000 starlink satellites operating in low-earth orbit!

on the ground, the starlink system consists of ground stations and user terminals. the ground station connects satellites in the sky to the internet, while the user terminal is a dish or flat antenna the size of a pizza box and weighs several kilograms, which transmits information to satellites in low-earth orbit. as long as ordinary users' mobile phones or other devices are connected to the starlink user terminal (specifically, the starlink router connected to the antenna), they can enjoy the internet just like connecting to the wifi at home.

■the "starlink" terminal antenna installed in the courtyard is light, portable and easy to use.

■the topological structure of the starlink system enables global high-speed internet connection through a large number of low-earth orbit satellites.

starlink satellites are cheap to build, and coupled with spacex's technological advantages in low-cost launch vehicles, the cost of each satellite plus the launch fee is only $500,000, which makes the intensive launch of starlink satellites possible. for example, in january 2021, spacex launched 143 starlink satellites into orbit using the falcon 9 launch vehicle from cape canaveral, florida, usa. currently, there are 6,359 starlink satellites flying in space.

■on november 11, 2019, the falcon 9 rocket carrying 60 starlink satellites was launched from cape canaveral.

civilian or military?

the uss lincoln aircraft carrier mentioned at the beginning of this article has installed a starlink terminal. the sailors are happy to have access to the internet, watching tv series, twitter and live football games. but it is obvious that the focus of this news event is not to tell a story about the benefits of military life, but to reflect the military application scenarios of the starlink system.

although musk has been creating a "civilian" persona for starlink, the "military content" of this grand space program has always been the focus of public opinion. after the outbreak of the russian-ukrainian war in 2022, it is an open secret that the starlink system supports the ukrainian army in combat. spacex has deployed ground gateways in poland, turkey, lithuania, romania and other countries surrounding ukraine, and provided ukraine with more than 20,000 starlink ground terminals to provide it with space-based internet services.

■a ukrainian soldier is setting up a starlink terminal antenna. it is an open secret that starlink provides communication support for the ukrainian army.

on may 19, 2022, red star tv, a subsidiary of the russian ministry of defense, reported that the captured chief of staff of the 36th brigade of the ukrainian marine corps, kermenkov, admitted that the ukrainian army used starlink to contact the ukrainian general staff at the assyrian steel plant. this was the first time that russian media published evidence that starlink was used by the ukrainian army. the ukrainian ministry of defense also tweeted on june 11, 2022 that spacex handed over the starlink ground terminal equipment to the ukrainian intelligence department.

in the russian-ukrainian war that lasted for more than two years, "starlink" was of great help to the ukrainian army, especially in a series of operations that severely damaged the russian black sea fleet. "starlink" was indispensable for the ukrainian army to achieve remote control of unmanned strike platforms. generally speaking, the range of activities of drones or unmanned boats is limited by the communication capabilities of ground stations, and the main bases of the black sea fleet on the crimean peninsula are unlikely to be hit by ukrainian unmanned platforms. however, if the ground station can command and control the unmanned platform through "starlink" in space, its combat radius will be greatly increased, enough to strike russian military ports such as sevastopol. on february 14, 2024, ukraine dispatched the magurav5 unmanned boat to sink the russian large landing ship "caesar kunikov" with the assistance of "starlink", which is a successful example.

■on february 14, 1943, soviet naval officer caesar kunikov was killed, and on february 14, 2024, the landing ship named after him was sunk, as if it were a fateful coincidence on valentine's day.

although the media has also reported that musk deliberately shut down the starlink service in the relevant areas to prevent the ukrainian army from attacking the black sea fleet, and spacex has complained that it is impossible to provide starlink services to ukraine for free forever, there is no doubt that starlink has provided great help to the ukrainian army on the battlefield.

the shining star of "starlink" on the ukrainian battlefield is certainly not the ukrainian army's sudden inspiration for the application of technology. in fact, from the beginning of the "starlink" plan, the us military has favored this "civilian project" mentioned by musk.

the u.s. air force has been testing starlink on military tanker/transport aircraft platforms since 2018, proving that the ac-130 gunboat can connect to starlink. in march 2022, the 388th fighter wing at hill air force base in utah, u.s., conducted a high-speed communications test on the front-line agile deployment of the f-35a, the key of which was the starlink satellite. the information transmission speed achieved through the starlink satellite is 30 times faster than that achieved through military satellites, reaching 160mbyte. the u.s. army began a three-year cooperative research and development test of the cross-network data transmission capabilities of the starlink satellite in may 2020. the united states and its allies integrated approximately 120 drones, unmanned boats, and unmanned underwater vehicles into the same network through starlink in a military exercise held off the coast of portugal in 2022.

■a marine sets up a starlink terminal antenna aboard the uss louis puller expeditionary mobile base.

back to the news that the uss lincoln has launched the starlink service, high-speed internet not only brings the sailors the heat of the super bowl, but also greatly facilitates combat meetings between warships and friendly forces. for example, kevin white, a combat system officer on the uss lincoln, had a video call with his counterparts on the italian aircraft carrier cavour with the support of starlink to discuss bilateral exercises between the two ships. some confidential tactical applications have also taken advantage of the starlink information highway. for example, an application called flank speed ​​edge can transfer terabytes of data from the cloud to the aircraft carrier's computer system, allowing the support department of the uss lincoln to book spare parts and fuel more efficiently and manage various supplies more easily. of course, considering the fact that starlink is civilian in nature, higher-level information on the uss lincoln cannot be transmitted through the system.

■ kevin white, the combat systems officer of the uss lincoln, had a video call with his italian naval counterparts via the starlink system.

"star shield" is online

unlike the schrödinger state of the starlink system, which is both military and civilian, the military nature of spacex's starshield project is very clear. the starshield project, announced in december 2022, directly serves the us military and provides services such as earth observation, secure communications, and payload hosting based on starlink technology. in order to achieve the above goals, the starshield satellite must be larger, heavier, and more advanced than the starlink satellite that has been launched. it is said that its version is 2.0.

■rendering of the "star shield" system satellite operating in space. "star shield" is the military version of "starlink".

there are currently several versions of starlink satellites:

v0.9 is a prototype satellite of spacex, which was first launched in may 2019 and weighs about 226 kg each.

the v1.0 satellite was first launched in november 2019 and is equipped with a phased array antenna, each weighing about 258 kilograms;

the v1.5 satellite was first launched in september 2021 and is equipped with an inter-satellite laser communication system that enables satellites to communicate directly with each other. a single satellite weighs approximately 306 kg, and each satellite can support a bandwidth of 18 to 20 gbps.

the v2.0 mini satellite was first launched in february 2023. it weighs 800 kg, has a solar array wing area more than four times that of v1.5, and has a communication capability four times that of v1.5.

all of the above versions have launch records, but the strongest "starlink" satellite v2.0, which is 7 meters long and weighs 1.25 tons, will not be deployed until the required carrier "starship" is developed. by then, the number of "starshield" satellites is expected to reach 30,000, distributed in low-earth orbit at an altitude of 328 to 614 kilometers.

■as of now, there is no record of the launch of various versions of starlink satellites, including the latest v2 version.

in 2021, spacex signed a $1.8 billion contract with the national reconnaissance office (nro) to build a confidential earth observation satellite constellation. after carrying the military's observation payload, some media commented that "star shield" will become "the cia (central intelligence agency) flying in space."

the development goal of the u.s. department of defense's joint all domain command and control (jadc2) project is to connect sensors, shooters and targets, as well as the link 16 data link that links various military services around the world. satellite systems will play an indispensable role:

1) beyond-visual-range targeting of moving targets, such as generating fire control solutions for enemy ships or mobile missile launchers, which require real-time detection and tracking from space;

2) detect, warn and track missiles and other aircraft. for example, timely detect the launch of enemy ballistic missiles, and track and predict their trajectories in and outside the atmosphere to help our own anti-missile weapons hit the target.

■the joint global command and control system that the us military is developing requires an efficient satellite communication network to operate normally.

the emergence of the "star shield" system will undoubtedly provide great assistance to the realization of the above goals, especially after carrying anti-missile payloads, it can track the trajectory of enemy missiles in real time throughout the entire process, and has the possibility of anti-missile interception while providing early warning, supporting the tracking layer function in the new generation of the us military's so-called "national defense space architecture." the us space force plans to eliminate large and expensive geosynchronous orbit satellites in the future missile early warning system and focus on the development of low-orbit satellites.

■conceptual diagram of the future low-orbit satellite system’s operations for monitoring ballistic missiles.

new combat concepts such as multi-domain warfare, mosaic warfare, and distributed warfare have gradually been deepened in the u.s. military services. among them, low-orbit satellite constellations have added battlefield communications and reconnaissance means, and in the future they will also have potential functions such as anti-satellite and electronic jamming.

conclusion

soldiers of the aircraft carrier uss lincoln witnessed the exciting moment when the kansas city chiefs reversed their opponents and won the football final in the super bowl through starlink. however, the space where starlink is located is another more spectacular and fierce competition field. as the most dazzling constellation in low-earth orbit, the starlink system has announced the military significance of the space field to the world. many countries, including a certain major country in the east, have also strived to make a difference in this new track and launched their own low-orbit satellite networking plans. although starlink has taken the lead in the competition, the final has not yet begun and everything is still full of variables. as a latecomer, we should fully realize the great military significance of starlink and starshield, take ourselves as the main body, accumulate strength and achieve overtaking on this technological track.

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