Ukraine is fighting an attack from Russian forces, which is based on satellite signals.
On Monday (April 11), NBC Nightly News ran an interview with a U.S. Space Force official, who said the Russian forces were looking for global satellite signals (GPS) from bases. Satellites are used for navigation, mapping and other purposes. (There is no indication that the plane is still being launched.)
Experts are not surprised to see this, an analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) told Space.com, because the spacecraft have been installed to make the jamming in other levels over the years.
“We knew they were being used even by the US and NATO allies [North Atlantic Treaty Organization] to conduct military operations in northern Norway. Russia will use jamming to disrupt our military training, even though the Russian north side is there, “Kaitlyn Johnson, vice president and partner of the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS, told Space.com.
Select: How GPS systems help people navigate
Many cars easily display some satellite images, according to a recent CSIS threat report. The manufacturers are “military,” which means that Russia has spent years developing the system and has not sold it on the market.
The report added that the jamming was going on before the start of the Ukraine invasion in Feb. 24, while the Russian military “has frequently installed GPS signals in Ukraine since 2014.” That year the Russians saw the invasion and annexation of Crimea, which has since become part of Ukraine. That invasion put Russia under a different set of sanctions and more severe international sanctions than the current nation.
There are many global satellite systems in operation today; Russia, China, America and Europe respectively, for example. The Space Force chief told NBC that Russia was behind the spacecraft signals from one of them: the Navstar system of satellites used by the United States and widely available to countries. there are many all over the world.
Navstar introduces a standard radio suite that GPS transmitters, such as car drivers or cell phones, can take pictures. Johnson said one way to circumvent jamming is to change and increase the frequency of transmission making it much harder for jamming operators to block the signal.
Jammers typically use large radio beams that emit radio “noise” to block out special signals, even though their effectiveness can be blocked by the ground, Johnson said.
“If you’re on a very big mountain, your radio won’t go far, because you can’t go in the middle. [the rock]”she said.” But if you’re on a super-flat, it is [jamming] Better and go wider. “
Russia is trying to block broadband signals sent to Ukraine by SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, according to founder and CEO Elon Musk. SpaceX sent thousands of Starlink terminals to Ukraine in February to provide an independent set of operations to the affected nation.
Musk said SpaceX is changing the situation. “Some Starlink stations were stationed near the battlefields for a few hours at a time,” Musk said wrote via Twitter on March 1. “Our latest program to stop jamming.”
Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or Facebook.
