China builds world’s first 20GW microwave weapon that can fire a 60-second burst
Chinese scientists build world-first 20GW microwave weapon that can fire 60-second bursts
Ground-based and compact Chinese technology can disrupt or damage Starlink satellites operating in low Earth orbit.Stephen Chen (South China Morning Post)

FunkyCheese
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •We are at levels not even styropyro can compete with
What does a microwave weapon do?
Edit: can jam drone signals etc
I thought at first, it could pop people like a kitten in a microwave
locuester
in reply to FunkyCheese • • •Wtf is this something you do?!
FunkyCheese
in reply to locuester • • •Eh no?
Its a classic urban legend story
locuester
in reply to FunkyCheese • • •ulterno
in reply to FunkyCheese • • •Does a kitten really pop in a microwave?
I would expect it to just boil as things normally do.
ShinkanTrain
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •Mr. Xi, fire when ready.
locuester
in reply to ShinkanTrain • • •onlinepersona
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to onlinepersona • • •Oooooo. Wow ppl really just gonna hate everything he touches eh?
Remind me why. Is it mainly because of his attempt to reduce government spending, his views on trans, his Asperger’s, or his odd approach to reproducing with women?
SpaceX has 10k employees that aren’t Elon ya know.
onlinepersona
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to onlinepersona • • •ToTheGraveMyLove
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to ToTheGraveMyLove • • •ToTheGraveMyLove
in reply to locuester • • •QinShiHuangsShlong
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to QinShiHuangsShlong • • •QinShiHuangsShlong
in reply to locuester • • •What party line? It's the truth? He's in the Epstein files begging to go "party" on the island. He hit multiple nazi salutes on camera. It's not a line it's a statement of fact Elon Musk is a nazi pedophile.
locuester
in reply to QinShiHuangsShlong • • •I genuinely saw the man making a hand gesture out to all the people. I didn’t see, nor have I even seen, any sign or symptom that he’s actually a Nazi.
The pedo thing, eh that’s pretty inconclusive that he was touching underage women because he asked to go to a party imo. I prefer a bit more damning evidence.
The man isn’t my idol. I hate a lot of his personal life and the way he appears to treat woman.
I truly am thinking independently, and I understand that your view on the world is different. Is this all it takes for you to say pedo Nazi or is there more?
gucken
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to gucken • • •KimBongUn420
in reply to locuester • • •biggeoff
in reply to locuester • • •I don't think you can call something that can be shut down by a single company "global internet"
I have problems with the satellites sure, but fundamentally the whole premise is flawed.
Also spacex isn't exactly doing great ok engineering compared to ULA and other industry leaders. Feels a bit weird to put them on a pedestal.
ToTheGraveMyLove
in reply to locuester • • •DeepSpace9mm
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to DeepSpace9mm • • •DeepSpace9mm
in reply to locuester • • •It's not that you don't belong, it's that you engage in rhetorical strategies that are emotionally abusive while writing apologia for nazis.
It's just the paradox of tolerance. If we tolerate Nazi apologia, that's all the site will become (just like Twitter). If I were a mod, your comments defending musk's Nazi salute would be deleted and you would be permanently banned, but I'm not a mod. So, I'm asking nicely.
orc_princess
in reply to locuester • • •HiddenLayer555
in reply to locuester • • •As an autistic person, don't you FUCKING DARE defend his use of that fucking card for the horrible way he acts.
locuester
in reply to HiddenLayer555 • • •ShinkanTrain
in reply to onlinepersona • • •I also have a problem with overengineered inferior solutions to investing in improving and expanding what is cheap and works very well and that will negatively impact future space projects.
You know, his entire shtick.
kibiz0r
in reply to locuester • • •I’ll let someone much smarter than me speak to this:
youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeG…
- YouTube
youtube.comlocuester
in reply to kibiz0r • • •Huge fan of Alec, seen most his vids and yeah I caught that earlier this week, including the full ending.
I agree with and love every bit of that video except for that part about Starlink. Everything in his video aligns with my view of the world and I learned a ton of stuff as well, but I feel like this one I would have to sit down and think about a lot more.
It seemed out of place in the video in fact. I brushed it off and didn’t go further down the rabbit hole, but nothing he said changes my mind immediately on this particular matter. Everything else in the video made total sense and easily defensible.
I am realizing now that perhaps this was simply a cheap jab at Elon - Just because everyone hates Elon right now. You have me thinking and maybe I’ll rewatch it and think through this a lot more. I don’t recall him saying anything specific against Elon himself. Prob a dramatic eye roll?
biggeoff
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to biggeoff • • •HiddenLayer555
in reply to locuester • • •(Edit: made a more formal comment closer to the root of the thread)
Why? Launching shit into space is hard as fuck and has an enormous carbon footprint. You can build A LOT of cellular infrastructure for the same cost and impact.
And building your internet infrastructure in your own territory instead of floating in space will make it a lot harder for China to shoot with their badass microwave canon.
And I'm just a common idiot, but I'd wager upgrading satellite infrastructure is going to be slightly more expensive than terrestrial infrastructure. There's a reason we're still using a lot of satellite infrastructure from the 1980s.
locuester
in reply to HiddenLayer555 • • •Starlink satellites are disposable from the start. They have a five year lifespan before deorbiting and burning up. So launches continue forever. So basically upgrades just come as they come, the mechanism is already in place. No clue on how costs compare with upgrading hundreds of thousands of terrestrial towers every 10 years or whatever is needed.
Agreed that domestic benefits would require far more analysis than I’m capable of.
cv_octavio
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to cv_octavio • • •cv_octavio
in reply to locuester • • •Ah, Ok so you don't particularly have anything against humanity, you're just an ignoramus with no sense of right/wrong and a chronic inability to read the fucking room, and tacitly accepts the products and services of a Nazi pedophile techbro. Gotcha.
Hope you recover from the landmine injury!
gucken
in reply to cv_octavio • • •gucken
in reply to locuester • • •m532
in reply to locuester • • •Think about iran, where they had to jam the starlink signal to keep the cia agents from murdering everyone (they paid per murder).
Now if usa attacked a less powerful country without jamming technology, the cia agents could get their orders and data over starlink, and use that to murder everyone.
va11kyrie
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to va11kyrie • • •pie boy (he/him)
in reply to locuester • • •Unironically, yes. I don't know if you're trying to make that scenario sound ridiculous, but I can assure you that it very much is not. At least outside of the US.
It's not everyone at the moment, but the IT people who are paying attention are freaking the fuck out. I legitimately think Microsoft, AWS, and GCP will lose substantial market share overseas in the next 24 months.
Consider that much of the rest of the world has started trusting China more than the US. Now think about the US CLOUD Act. What person in their right mind is going to feel comfortable hosting their company's most sensitive data within jurisdictional reach of whatever the fuck is going on over there?
locuester
in reply to pie boy (he/him) • • •eldavi
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to pie boy (he/him) • • •hector
in reply to pie boy (he/him) • • •تحريرها كلها ممكن
in reply to locuester • • •comfy
in reply to locuester • • •The only social networks I willingly use are Fediverse instances, none I'm registered on are hosted in the US.
No device in my house runs Windows. Linux is an upgrade, I recommend it.
As a socialist, I believe the working class must seize the means of production, and am doing my part in building that future for us all.
Yes, I despise the 'smart' features shoved into cars, televisions, etc.. I am also active in /c/fuckcars, I am critical of their overuse and rarely use one.
Now, none of this is necessary for us to recognize that giving the US control of important infrastructure is dangerous. But you did ask. And many governments are also moving away from US infrastructure, although more slowly.
As for Starlink, its common use is the result of laziness and neglect. Satellite inte
... Show more...The only social networks I willingly use are Fediverse instances, none I'm registered on are hosted in the US.
No device in my house runs Windows. Linux is an upgrade, I recommend it.
As a socialist, I believe the working class must seize the means of production, and am doing my part in building that future for us all.
Yes, I despise the 'smart' features shoved into cars, televisions, etc.. I am also active in /c/fuckcars, I am critical of their overuse and rarely use one.
Now, none of this is necessary for us to recognize that giving the US control of important infrastructure is dangerous. But you did ask. And many governments are also moving away from US infrastructure, although more slowly.
As for Starlink, its common use is the result of laziness and neglect. Satellite internet is clearly not the cheapest, fastest or most efficient for most of its customers to get modern internet infrastructure. Governments should be reducing their citizens' need for Starlink as a serious priority, by building internet infrastructure.
KyuubiNoKitsune
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to KyuubiNoKitsune • • •DeepSpace9mm
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to DeepSpace9mm • • •DeepSpace9mm
in reply to locuester • • •You, elsewhere in the thread
pineapple
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to pineapple • • •pineapple
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to pineapple • • •I did it for years in the city but can’t anymore.
So yeah, anyhow, that’s my point.
DeepSpace9mm
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to DeepSpace9mm • • •DeepSpace9mm
in reply to locuester • • •DeepSpace9mm
in reply to locuester • • •HiddenLayer555
in reply to locuester • • •YES
/c/fuckcars
A lot?
locuester
in reply to HiddenLayer555 • • •emergencyfood
in reply to locuester • • •locuester
in reply to emergencyfood • • •DeepSpace9mm
in reply to locuester • • •Aljernon
in reply to locuester • • •The broad answer is that Starlink clutters up the night sky with often visible satellites that ruin our view of the cosmos and risk negatively impacting radio astronomy while putting altogether to much power in the hands of a corporation and in this case the worlds richest douchebag/nazi.
The answer specific to Mainland China is that their government opposes the free flow of information. Anything that undermines their government's ability to control the narrative is frowned upon.
BrainInABox
in reply to Aljernon • • •Aljernon
in reply to BrainInABox • • •BrainInABox
in reply to Aljernon • • •Aljernon
in reply to BrainInABox • • •BrainInABox
in reply to Aljernon • • •ToTheGraveMyLove
in reply to locuester • • •BrainInABox
in reply to ToTheGraveMyLove • • •ToTheGraveMyLove
in reply to BrainInABox • • •BrainInABox
in reply to ToTheGraveMyLove • • •HiddenLayer555
in reply to locuester • • •The Elon aspect has already been covered by other commenters, so purely against Starlink's technology as a primary method for internet, ignoring Musk:
It has an enormous carbon footprint. Launching stuff into space takes a ton of energy, and SpaceX rockets are entirely powered by fossil fuels. Most of the rocket body is just massive tanks of fossil fuels, and because they don't fly very far from Earth, most of that ends up in the atmosphere. The internet already has a significant carbon footprint, and adding this layer when we absolutely don't have to is stupid. We can build A LOT of terrestrial radio infrastructure for less environmental impact, covering pretty much all rural areas. Microwave dishes pointing to towers is superior for rural internet in pretty much every way, including latency which is Starlink's main selling point over older satellite internet systems, and wired internet is still the best option in every benchmark possible so using Starlink in urban places where you can effectively supply wired internet is stupid.
But what about peopl
... Show more...The Elon aspect has already been covered by other commenters, so purely against Starlink's technology as a primary method for internet, ignoring Musk:
It has an enormous carbon footprint. Launching stuff into space takes a ton of energy, and SpaceX rockets are entirely powered by fossil fuels. Most of the rocket body is just massive tanks of fossil fuels, and because they don't fly very far from Earth, most of that ends up in the atmosphere. The internet already has a significant carbon footprint, and adding this layer when we absolutely don't have to is stupid. We can build A LOT of terrestrial radio infrastructure for less environmental impact, covering pretty much all rural areas. Microwave dishes pointing to towers is superior for rural internet in pretty much every way, including latency which is Starlink's main selling point over older satellite internet systems, and wired internet is still the best option in every benchmark possible so using Starlink in urban places where you can effectively supply wired internet is stupid.
But what about people who live in super remote areas where ground based infrastructure is unfeasible? Well, we've already had internet capable satellites for much longer, and Starlink is an inferior satellite technology in terms of efficiency compared to satellites that orbit much higher up. They fly so low that most of the time they're doing nothing because they're flying over the ocean or places no one is using the service. With geostationary satellites, each satellite can "see" a larger portion of the Earth, so not only do you need fewer satellites while still providing global coverage, each satellite is in use much more of the time even when they're flying over unpopulated areas because they cover so much more area, so say, ships and wildlife researchers in the jungle can stay connected to a single satellite instead of needing a dense web of satellites flying by overhead to deliver continuous coverage.
Flying so low also causes them to experience much more atmospheric drag, meaning they have a much shorter life. So you need more launches in total to replace satellites and maintain global coverage, massively increasing the carbon footprint. You also further pollute the atmosphere with vaporized satellites (which contain some nasty heavy metals BTW) when they run out of propellant and fall back to Earth. So not only do you need fewer satellites with geostationary orbit, each satellite also has a longer life.
The antenna you'd need on the ground is also much simpler, just a dish instead of an expensive, fragile, and power hungry phased array. Pretty important for truly off grid people.
It's also bad for national security (again, speaking on national security implications of the technology in general because as a Canadian I couldn't care less about US national security) to rely on it as a primary way of getting Internet because, as we've just learned, other countries can just shoot down your satellites when they fly over their territory. Not helped by the fact that they're so close to the ground. It would be a lot harder to attack infrastructure in a country's own territory. And if you're not the country operating it, you're also at the mercy of that country because they can just deny you access.
pineapple
in reply to ShinkanTrain • • •QinShiHuangsShlong
in reply to pineapple • • •HiddenLayer555
in reply to QinShiHuangsShlong • • •skuzz
in reply to QinShiHuangsShlong • • •ulterno
in reply to skuzz • • •🤦
I always thought of de-orbiting just to burn-off as a waste, but now this.
skuzz
in reply to ulterno • • •NOAA CSL: 2025 News & Events: Within 15 years, plummeting satellites could release enough aluminum to alter winds, temps in the stratosphere
csl.noaa.govulterno
in reply to skuzz • • •Ok, so there seems to be a silver lining.
A lesser Ozone hole during a certain period.
Now just to know if the Ozone decimation is winning over this little phenomenon.
Either way, the LEO satellites seem to be to big a mess for their worth, unless you are just considering their military worth.
Arthur Besse
in reply to pineapple • • •A cascade of satellite collisions is called Kessler syndrome and the risk of it happening is rapidly increasing due to megaconstellations like Starlink:
Kessler syndrome could be a solution to the Fermi paradox.
planetary low-orbit debris hazard
Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)Aljernon
in reply to ShinkanTrain • • •unwarlikeExtortion
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ • • •For some reason it took me at least 5 reads to notice the word weapon in the title properly.
Ascend910
in reply to unwarlikeExtortion • • •Matty_r
in reply to unwarlikeExtortion • • •