HUA HIN, Thailand - It's a nightmare scenario for proponents of China's "counter-space" threat. A group of military-grade Chinese hackers access United States Earth observation satellites through a ground station in the Arctic. With a full array of commands at their disposal, the hackers manipulate and glean valuable environmental data. When conflict erupts, the satellites are programmed to self-destruct, or take down more valuable targets.
The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC), a congressional body, hints in its latest report that the People's Liberation Army has already opened the door to such a strike, finding that US environment-monitoring satellites were interfered with four or more times in 2007 and 2008 and that "the techniques appear consistent with authoritative Chinese military writings".
The forthcoming annual report for the independent congressional advisory panel states in the chapter "China's Activities Directly Affecting US Security Interests" that in October 2007 and July 2008 the earth observation satellite Landsat-7 "experienced 12 or more minutes of interference". Landsat-7 is jointly managed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the US Geological Survey.
More worrying are the commission's findings that the defenses of the Terra EOS (earth observation system), a NASA satellite, were breached for two and then 10 minutes in June and October 2008. "The responsible party achieved all steps required to command the satellite, but did not issue commands".
