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Since Russia organized the parade of Victory Day this year, the hacker that supported the Kremlin was stolen by a satellite in orbit, providing television services in Ukraine.
Instead of a regular program, Ukrainian spectators saw shots from the parade broadcast by Moscow: tanks, soldiers and weapons. The message was aimed at mockery, and it was also a picture that the war of the 21st century was carried out not only on land, sea and air, but also in the cyberspace and distances of the cosmos.
The disabled of the satellite can cause a destructive blow without one bullet and can be aimed at the software for the safety of satellites or interrupting its ability to send or receive signals from the ground.
“If you can prevent the ability of the satellite to communicate, you can cause a significant disorder,” said Tom Pace, CEO of Netrise, a cybersecurity company that focuses on protecting the supply chains.
“Think about GPS,” he said. “Imagine that if the population is lost, and it would cause confusion.”
Satellites are a graternate task
More than 12,000 operating satellites are currently on the way to the planet, playing a critical role not only in broadcasting, but also in military operations, navigation systems, such as GPS, collection of information and chains of financial supplies.
They are also the key to the early efforts to detect the launchers, which can warn about the approach of rockets.
This makes them an important vulnerable point of national security and the main goal for those who want to undermine the enemy’s economy or military readiness – or cause a psychological blow, like hackers who support Russia when they covered television signals in Ukraine.
Hackers usually look for the weakest connection in the software or material that supports the satellite or controls its connection with the ground. The actual device on the way can be safe, but if it works with outdated software, it can be easily used.
When Russian troops invaded Ukraine in 2022, someone aimed at Viasat, a satellite company in the United States, used by the government and the Ukrainian army.
Khini, for which Kyiv accused Moscow, used malicious software to infect tens of thousands of models, creating an interruption that influenced large areas of Europe.
National security officers say that Russia is developing nuclear space weapons intended to destroy almost every satellite in the low orbit of the Earth. The weapon will combine a natural attack, which will dissipate, destroying more satellites, while the nuclear element will be used to burn their electronics.
Weapons, if it is developed, violates an international treaty prohibiting weapons of mass destruction in space.
The US Republican deputy Mike Turner said that such a weapon can make a low trajectory useless for one year.
In the case of use, the consequences will be destructive: they can leave the United States and their allies vulnerable to economic unrest and even nuclear attack.
Russia and China will also lose satellites, although they believe that they are independent of such satellites.
Turner compared a weapon that was not yet ready for growth, with a satellite, a Russian companion who opened space in 1957.
“If this nuclear weapon is placed in space, it will be the end of the space,” Turner said.
“This should never be allowed to go into space. This is the Cuban missile crisis in space. ”
Mining to the moon and beyond
Valuable minerals and other materials on the moon and asteroids can lead to future conflicts, since countries seek to use new technologies and sources of energy.
Sean Duffy, the head of the debt of the American space service of NASA, announced this month plans for Send a small nuclear reactor to the moonSaying that it is important for the United States to do this before China or Russia.
The moon is rich in material known as Sun 3, which, according to scientists, can be used in nuclear fusion for the production of a huge amount of energy.
Although this technology was far from decades, control over the moon in those years that would clarify, can determine which countries will appear on super -resistance, according to Joseph Rock, London Cybersecurity Expert, working in London, who worked in the British defense industry and is currently the director of the registered future.
The end of the Cold War temporarily stopped many investments in space, but competition will probably increase, since the promise of prey on the moon will become a reality.
“This is not science fiction. This is quickly reality, ”Rock said. “If you dominate the needs of the Earth’s energy, the game will end.”
China and Russia announced the plans of their own nuclear plants on the moon in the coming years, while the United States plan missions to the Moon and Mars. Artificial intelligence (AI) will probably accelerate competition, as well as the demand for energy required by AI.
Despite its steps in space, China opens against any service in aliens, according to Liu Pungu, a representative of the Chinese Embassy in Washington. He said that the United States is those that threaten to militarize the last border.
“They continue to expand their military power into space, create space military alliances and try to turn space into a zone of hostilities,” Liu said.