Chinese Space Defense Develops Multi-Use AI-Powered Orbital Carrier To Keep Space Assets Running

Chinese space defense is going one step ahead of the US with the development of an AI-powered orbital carrier capable of determining how to react in offense and defense.

According to the SCMP, the mobile space platform will have numerous CubeSats that are only 1 kilo each; each unit will move as a single unit or swarm to protect Beijing's space assets.

Artificial Intelligence Capabilities

Chinese scientists, on the other hand, highlighted that AI would be required to identify when and when to launch the CubeSats to defend against enemy satellites, reported EurAsian Times.

Human brains will not enable space battle; instead, AI will provide the edge for the orbital environment. The space platform will be used for in-orbit refueling and maintenance.

The researchers noted in a report published on June 25 in Chinese Space Science and Technology that discovering the most effective approach for AI to operate an orbital carrier will have "great commercial and military importance."

Beijing said in December 2021 that two SpaceX Starlink satellites got perilously close to its planned space station in two instances. It has raised fears that the frequency of these aggressive encounters will grow shortly.

According to a June 16 article from Space News, such encounters occur increasingly frequently. Furthermore, it claimed American and Chinese satellites were playing cat and mouse in space. Now, Beijing wants a Chinese space defense to take down Starlink satellites, like an AI-powered orbital carrier.

Designing Next-Generation AI

Developers claim that any planned and ongoing attack in space may be defended against using an orbital platform loaded with CubeSats.

They recommended employing AI to find answers to some of the most important mission planning concerns, such as the direction of orbit transfer, the timing of CubeSat releases, and the timing of satellite collisions.

Using the multi-round greedy search strategy, they may instruct four orbiting platforms to analyze nine hostile objects in less than a day. A high-precision orbit model was compared to one of the most used optimization techniques, a hybrid encoding genetic algorithm.

The AI finds the best solution to solve the problems via all parameters. This tactic was discovered to be more successful than traditional optimization methods. AI may then provide people with a variety of possibilities.

The researchers further asserted that they would inject randomization into the search process to overcome the greedy algorithm's drawbacks and deliver globally optimal results.

Recently, a different team of Chinese scientists asserted that they had developed artificial intelligence (AI) that could track satellites using tricks like deception.

China intends to orbit all 138 satellites in the Jilin-1 constellation in 2025. By incorporating AI onboard, these satellites would be better able to continuously monitor the globe and withstand anti-satellite missile attacks from the US and its allies.

It is possible to interpret China's plans to build artificial military intelligence (AI) into commercial satellites as a proliferation strategy to strengthen its space-based ISR capabilities.

Developing this crucial Chinese space defense via developing an AI-powered orbital carrier using CubeSat is far ahead of the US; it makes the Pentagon shudder.