When Chinese space officials unveiled the design for the country’s first super heavy lift rocket nearly a decade ago, it looked like a fairly conventional booster. The rocket was fully expendable, with three stages and solid motors strapped onto its sides.
Now, based on information released at a major airshow in Zhuhai, China, the design has morphed again. And this time, the plan for the Long March 9 rocket looks almost exactly like a clone of SpaceX’s Starship rocket.
No need. Spaceflight fans (like me!) are supporting and funding what may be the biggest aerospace espionage operation in history by a factor of 10, down in South Texas. With crowdsourced tracking and analysis. Must be beyond the CPC’s wildest dreams!
E.g.:
https://www.youtube.com/live/mhJRzQsLZGg
https://ringwatchers.com/
https://sh.itjust.works/post/27492397
And we ain’t gonna stop!
I remember a story coming out about Russians using Starlink but it seemed a bit vague to me. Has anyone reliable actually asserted that SpaceX are significantly underperforming in the job of blocking captured terminals (once notified), or other aspects of the day-to-day operations that the Ukrainians would do if they controlled it themselves?
FWIW, SpaceX seems to deny it. https://x.com/SpaceX/status/1849956344691912873
" … As has been repeatedly confirmed by the Department of Defense, SpaceX has worked (and continues to work) in close partnership with the U.S. Government regarding Ukraine and denial of service to bad actors. …"