China is working on a new satellite-wrecking Death Star-like microwave weapon. Chinese scientists have reportedly developed a multi-beam converging microwave weapon. The new weapon is designed to combine several beams in one location with ultra-precise timing. This weapon could be used to target a single object with its multiple beams.
Similar in concept to the super laser from the Death Star battle station of Star Wars fame, the new Chinese weapon has completed experimental military trials. In the Star Wars universe, the Death Star’s main weapon uses “kyber” crystals to generate power.
This energy is then directed through several laser cannons, that merge at a single point to generate a beam so powerful it can blow apart entire planets. While impressive cinematically, this type of weapon has long been considered a complete fantasy.
According to reports, the new Chinese weapon employs multiple independent microwave-transmitting vehicles that can be deployed in different locations.
These individual vehicles are able to coordinate the focus of their beams into one location, merging and amplifying the power of an attack. This process is difficult, because each beam transmitter needs ultra-precise location and timing controls.
According to the research team’s calculations, each microwave vehicle must be deployed with a positional error of just a few millimeters. The time synchronization error between the vehicles must not exceed one hundred and seventy picoseconds (trillionths of a second).
This timing is more precise than the atomic clocks used in GPS satellites. However, such timing precision is not beyond the capabilities of Chinese scientists. Chinese scientists set a world record last year by using optical fiber to achieve a time synchronization accuracy of ten picoseconds over a distance of one thousand one hundred miles.
According to reports, the new Chinese weapon system requires seven transmitting vehicles. Chinese experiments have demonstrated that this device can disrupt signals from American GPS and other satellites.
Chinese scientists have also equipped each transmitting vehicle with laser-ranging auxiliary positioning devices to obtain the necessary millimeter-level coordinates.
A mobile command center controls the beams. This command center analyzes data from the various sensors and issues attack commands to the vehicles. According to an unnamed scientist involved in the project, the microwave beams can achieve a power-combining effect of “one and one equals more than two.”
Such a weapon could serve multiple purposes. These include education and training, verification of new technology, and military exercises. To maximize precision and accuracy, Chinese engineers connected the timing devices on the transmitting platforms using optical fibers to achieve ultra-high-time precision synchronization. This indicates that the trucks must be very near each other which may be difficult to achieve on an active battlefield.
Due to the project’s military sensitivity, the weapon’s performance parameters are confidential. A distributed structure could theoretically allow the power of an attack beam to increase indefinitely as more units are added. Previous research indicates that when the output of a directed energy weapon reaches one gigawatt, it can inflict significant damage on satellites in near-Earth orbit.
Obviously, that is significantly less than the kind of energy needed to destroy a target such as a planet. However, it could provide useful capabilities for the Chinese military.