Press
The Bundeswehr’s problems are no longer limited to Earth: two spy satellites in space are not working. Meanwhile, other nations are arming themselves in space.
Berlin – The armed forces has problems with its spy satellites: About six months ago The satellites were launched into space by a carrier rocket, but they are not working. Previous attempts by the manufacturer OHB to find a solution have not been successful. The Ministry of Defense is now working on a plan B “in case the functionality of the satellites cannot be restored,” the ministry announced on Friday (June 28) in Berlin.
German army spy satellites do not provide images: defect may be “systematic”
Since the end of June, the two satellites of the German Army’s SARah spy program should have been sending razor-sharp reconnaissance images to Earth. But so far, this has not worked. “After the successful launch of the last two SARah satellites in December, there are still delays in commissioning,” a spokesman for the Federal Ministry of Defense confirmed, according to dpa on Friday. SARah stands for the imaging radar technique “Synthetic Aperture Radar”.
The reason for the breakdown could be that the antennas can no longer be extended, it said. “The fact that both satellites have the same defect is remarkable and appears to be systematic. The process is not only a financial disaster, but also for our security,” criticized the Union’s defense spokesman, Florian Hahn, to Picture on SundayAccording to the Ministry of Defense, the Bundeswehr’s satellite-based reconnaissance capability remains assured.
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The transmission of the satellites to the ground station, which in the previous system was often only possible with a delay of several hours, is to be accelerated in the new constellation through more computing capacity and made even easier through the use of additional ground stations worldwide, according to a statement from the German Armed Forces in January of this year. In addition to a camera, the satellites also have radar, which enables nighttime recordings and makes the system independent of the weather.
Arms race in space: Russia with nuclear weapons in space, China endangers US supremacy
In view of the tense geopolitical situation worldwide, several nations, including Russia, the USA and China, have recently increased their efforts in space. Experts speak of an arms race in space. Communication between ships, the navigation of missiles, the positioning of soldiers on the battlefield usually takes place via satellite communication. Ukraine War demonstrated the importance of satellites. After Russia destroyed Ukraine’s military communications at the beginning of the invasion, only the Starlink satellite internet enabled “troops on the front line […] “Ukrainian Deputy Minister for Digital Transformation Alex Bornyakov said in 2022.
Moscow shot loudly Wall Street Journal A few days before his attack on Ukraine, Trump had already launched components for a nuclear anti-satellite weapon into space. This weapon is intended to be able to destroy hundreds of satellites in low Earth orbit in one fell swoop. Meanwhile, the USA fears that a Report of the New York Times According to the report, Beijing has not only launched a large number of communications satellites into space in recent years, but also systems that can grasp, move and deactivate US military satellites with a kind of arm.
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