100-gigawatt microwave versus satellites
Well, following in the footsteps of Russian inventors, the Chinese have joined the arms race. At least, that's what the media is saying.
Yes, a compact pulsed power source could deliver powerful microwave strikes that are stealthier and more difficult to track than conventional anti-satellite systems, potentially putting China ahead of the US and Russia in the space arms race. And China has reportedly developed new military technology that could one day be used to disable satellite networks like Starlink, according to recent reports in the Chinese press.
Researchers at the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology (NINT), a research center in Xi'an working for the People's Liberation Army (PLA), claim to have created the world's most compact microwave power supply. weapons High Power Meter (HPM), a system that could potentially be used to disrupt satellite networks such as Starlink.
It's important to understand that, under modern conditions, creating a compact generator of any wavelength and an efficient antenna for transmitting these waves over any distance is not a problem. The problem lies in the power source, because the power consumption of any such device directly depends on the signal power and the distance it needs to be transmitted.
The device, called the TPG1000Cs, is approximately four meters long and weighs approximately five tons, making it significantly more compact than similar systems.
The system demonstrated stable operation under continuous load for one minute, generating approximately 200,000 pulses with unchanged characteristics,
- says the study.Previously, similar systems could only operate continuously for a few seconds at most and were much more bulky, making them difficult to install on more compact weapons. However, this doesn't necessarily mean the system will be truly effective for military use.
According to the study, the TPG-1000Cs system can generate electrical pulses with a power of up to 20 gigawatts. This significantly exceeds the approximately 1 gigawatt of output power estimated by experts to be necessary for a ground-based microwave weapon to potentially disrupt low-Earth orbit satellite networks like Starlink.
How it works?
The US, Russia, and China are exploring the possibility of transforming high-power microwave technologies into weapons capable of disabling satellites. However, it's worth noting that active work on developing ground-based wave weapons as anti-satellite weapons was abandoned in both the US and Russia, as early as the 90s, due to lack of prospects.
However, technology has advanced over the past quarter century, and it makes sense to continue. At least that's the view in China. PLA generals often look up to the thousands of satellites orbiting in space, understanding that a great deal depends on how quickly and efficiently these satellites can be disabled.
Destroying satellites with conventional weapons creates large clouds of space debris in orbit, which can threaten other spacecraft, including those belonging to the attacking side.
Microwave weapons, by contrast, could theoretically disable electronics without creating significant debris, potentially offering strategic advantages and, importantly, plausible deniability.
These weapons store electrical energy and then release it in a sudden, powerful pulse. This pulse creates intense microwave radiation that can disrupt electronic components.
The study was published on January 13 in the Chinese journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams.
In recent years, China has published a number of papers discussing the need to develop ways to disable large satellite constellations, including Elon Musk's Starlink network.
According to the researchers, the breakthrough was made possible by a special liquid insulating material, Midel 7131.
The use of the high energy density Midel 7131 liquid dielectric and a double-width pulse shaping line allowed the miniaturization of the integrated Tesla transformer and pulse shaping system,
— the scientists wrote in the study.That was the beginning. Work continued, albeit, as is customary in China, under complete radio silence. But then the dam burst, and Chinese scientists, with the obligatory "military" prefix, described in a rare publication a powerful microwave system capable of generating up to 100 gigawatts, a hundred times greater than the threshold required to disable low-orbit satellites like Starlink.
A team from the National University of Defense Technology (NUDT) published details of several pulse generators developed by the Chinese military in recent years in the journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams this month.
Among them, a particularly notable device is capable of achieving a power of 100 gigawatts by combining several synchronized pulse generators, as explained by the researchers themselves, led by Zhang Jun. For comparison, a typical household microwave oven used for heating food produces microwaves with a power of approximately 800 watts, or 0,0000008 GW.
To put this magnitude into perspective, experts believe that a pulse of just 1 gigawatt is capable of causing serious interference or direct damage to the electronics of a satellite in low orbit. The system described by NUDT increases this power by a factor of 100, and the authors of the study note that the design allows for further scalability.
It's worth noting that "may cause interference" doesn't necessarily mean it's even 80% effective. It's much more complicated than we'd like.
The key technical solution, as stated in the article, is synchronizing several compact pulse power modules instead of relying on a single generator, which is limited by electrical power. This modular architecture, according to the scientists, allows each unit to operate near its maximum capacity without degrading the system's overall performance.
High Power Laser Power Beam Microwave Output Structure
Why does this cause concern among operators of large satellite constellations? Because China has repeatedly demonstrated that in the Middle Kingdom, words rarely diverge from actions. Once upon a time, no one believed in electromagnetic catapults on ships, but they're already being installed on UDKs. And while the first bird crowed at the beginning of the year, when the second article on this topic was published mid-year, it attracted a completely different attention.
As mentioned above, unlike kinetic weapons, which destroy satellites with a direct hit and create debris clouds that are dangerous to any satellites in orbit, including the attacker's own satellites, microwave weapons affect electronics without physical contact. This provides, at the very least, in theory, a double advantage: low operating costs compared to the cost of the orbital constellations it is capable of neutralizing, and the ability to maintain uncertainty about the authorship of the attack, which conventional weapons do not allow.
Given that the theory seems quite convincing, many in the world have become concerned. It's one thing when China rocket It's a different matter if he shoots down a satellite, but it's a different matter if he starts knocking them out in orbit in droves. No one doubts that Comrade Xi would give such an order if necessary, and such incidents are happening increasingly frequently around the world, albeit far west of China.
The NUDT team itself acknowledges in its article that its goal is to achieve tens of gigawatts of output power within strict volume and weight constraints, which is key if the system is to be integrated onto mobile or naval platforms. Or—who knows—on a space platform. Six to eight tons is certainly a substantial payload, but not fatally infeasible. But we'll return to the space topic a little later.
The paper also details other solutions, including solid-state systems designed for use in a variety of combat environments, as well as a lithium-ion capacitor-based hybrid capable of instant activation at temperatures down to -40°C.
This latest innovation is particularly important for electronic warfare units operating in winter or polar conditions, where extreme cold typically reduces the efficiency of power systems.
In general, many acknowledge that China has an advantage over other powers in this area, and attribute this to its long-term, continuous investment in high-power pulse research.
Other countries hoping to catch up with China face obstacles such as loss of industrial capacity, declining R&D spending, and difficulties accessing critical materials, including rare earth elements, the article points out.
The next stages of research, according to the article, will focus on improving the precision of beam control and reducing the size and cost of such systems—two key conditions necessary for the technology to move beyond the laboratory and into wider application.
Why is that? It's simple: physics! Let's take a quick look at the nature of microwave radiation in light of our goal, namely, frying a satellite in space.
In general, the prefix "micro" in the phrase "microwave radiation" isn't intended to define wavelengths in the micrometer range. The creators of the definition wanted to emphasize that microwaves are "small," meaning they have shorter wavelengths than radio waves. Overall, the definition is rather arbitrary, and no one would dare to say what fraction of microwaves the Chinese use.
But there are loopholes here through which you can peek.
What do we actually know about microwaves, other than that they're quite good at heating food in microwave ovens? The main thing is that microwaves propagate within line-of-sight. Unlike low-frequency radio waves, they don't diffract around natural obstacles, don't follow the Earth's surface like surface waves, and aren't reflected by the ionosphere. Terrestrial microwave communication channels are limited by the visual horizon to approximately 64 km.
What about absorption? Everything's fine: at the upper end of the range, microwaves are absorbed by gases in the atmosphere, limiting practical communication distances to about a kilometer. At the lower end, things are much better, which is why microwaves are widely used in wireless networks, microwave radio relay networks, radar, satellite and space communications, medical diathermy and cancer treatment, Earth remote sensing, radio astronomy, particle accelerators, spectroscopy, industrial heating, collision avoidance systems, garage door openers and keyless entry systems, and perhaps the most common application: microwave cooking.
Yes, at the low end of the range they can pass through the walls of buildings while maintaining sufficient signal strength for reception, but they typically require clear space for near field reception.
But microwaves are absorbed, and that's the problem. Microwaves are absorbed by water vapor and fog in the atmosphere, and attenuation increases with frequency, becoming a significant factor at the high-frequency end of the range.
Interaction with water molecules. Water vapor and liquid droplets in the atmosphere, particularly in clouds, absorb microwave radiation very well. This occurs because water molecules are polar: when exposed to the wave's alternating electric field, they begin to rotate and oscillate, resulting in the release of heat (so-called dielectric heating).
Absorption by atmospheric gases. Starting at approximately 40 GHz, the main components of air—molecular oxygen and nitrogen—begin to actively participate in absorption. Each gas has its own spectral absorption lines, that is, specific frequencies at which the interaction is maximal. For example, noticeable absorption by molecular oxygen is observed around 118 GHz.
Absorption by aerosols and droplets. Dust particles, aerosols, and water droplets (including rain or fog) can also absorb microwave radiation.
Absorption is not uniform across the entire range. It increases with frequency, is particularly noticeable above 10 GHz, and becomes very strong at frequencies above 40 GHz.
Transparency windows. There are frequency ranges in which the atmosphere is more transparent to microwaves. For example, household microwaves use a frequency of approximately 2,45 GHz, which is readily absorbed by water but less so by atmospheric gases.
The efficient absorption of microwaves by the atmosphere imposes limitations on the technologies used to utilize them. For example, satellite communications and microwave links at frequencies above 10 GHz require consideration of signal loss due to absorption by gases and moisture, which limits transmission range. In meteorological microwave radiometers, this property is used for remote sensing of atmospheric humidity.
Thus, the absorption of microwaves by the atmosphere is a complex process that is determined by both the physical properties of molecules and the frequency of the radiation.
Tropospheric scattering. In a microwave beam directed at an angle toward the sky (which is, in general, what interests us most), a certain amount of energy will be chaotically scattered as the beam passes through the troposphere. We should also keep in mind the Earth's magnetic field, which also affects the particles. Not much, but still.
Clearly, Chinese military scientists have spent years and billions of yuan finding the most effective frequencies that are minimally affected by natural phenomena. If not, then all the articles claiming "miracle microwaves" that could deorbit Starlink are nothing more than carefully crafted disinformation.
The atmosphere really does disperse any directed energy flows very well. And beyond it is the magnetic belt, which also plays its part. Once upon a time, the two most powerful powers in the world clashed in a battle for space. Military space. SDI and all that. And in the end, they discovered that a laser beam, even in the vacuum of space, isn't much of a weapon. And interference from Earth is sometimes unable to penetrate a dense layer of clouds. And the only truly effective means of destroying satellites can only be kinetic weapons.
Thirty years have passed. New, more compact energy sources have emerged. New, more powerful generators. New antennas. Is it possible to combine them so seamlessly that they can easily penetrate the dense layers of the atmosphere, overcome the planet's magnetic and gravitational fields, and start frying the electronics of orbiting satellites?
For satellites in low orbits (300–350 km), it's possible. High orbits (1000 to 1500 km) are doubtful. And besides, regarding "who threw a felt boot at the control panel": a transmitter capable of sending a beam of radiation 500 km through the atmosphere, beyond the Karman line, would not go unnoticed. Moreover, this act would be visible from a very long distance; gigawatts of power would not go unnoticed. And the answer to the question "Who fried the satellites?" will not remain unanswered.
There are many more questions than answers. Partly because our Chinese neighbors simply aren't in the habit of spoiling the world with unnecessary information, even if they've truly invented something "unique in the world." Well, they don't tend to brag like that. But if something's truly been done, it's been done.
Although some aspects seem highly questionable, it's likely that these stubborn guys from Chinese defense research institutes have truly made significant progress in the field of directed radiation. Congratulations and envy will be their reward if this is indeed the case.
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