China to deploy Laser satellites in the space, challenging the US

Beijing: The arms race between the United States and China is intensifying and China is taking rapid steps to challenge the superiority of the United States in space and the marine sector. As per the information received, China is developing a satellite equipped with the Laser Beam. The Chinese scientists have claimed that this satellite can be used to target the submarines in the deep sea. China has been trying to develop a Laser satellite over the last 50 years, as per the information revealed in this context.

China has started a spate of satellite launches for marine surveillance over the last few months. The Chinese Space Institute has claimed that there are civilian as well as military satellites among them. But the new Chinese project has extended the scope of marine surveillance. China has started efforts to use the satellites not only to survey the marine region but also to keep an eye on the enemy submarines and carry out laser attacks if necessary.

‘Pilot National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology’ (PNLMST) in the Shandong region of China has undertaken Project Guanlan for development of Laser satellites. The laboratory website states that the project was stated in the month of May this year. The research and production connected to the project are being carried out in more than 20 universities, laboratories and institutions other than PNLMST. This project has been granted high importance, as this will increase the Chinese marine surveillance capability hundreds of times more.

Song Shiaokuan, a scientist connected with the Project informed that the satellites made under project Guanlan will make the surface of the seas transparent to the Chinese defence forces. This will be achievable with the help of the Laser Beam, said the scientist. As per the current plan, the bottom of the sea up to 500 metres (1600 feet) can be seen. If this becomes possible, then there will be a major upheaval in the marine surveillance sector and everything will change, claimed Shiaokuan.

Some analysts have claimed that it is not easy to search at a depth of 500 metres at the bottom of the ocean. The light beam is not clear in water. The sun rays can reach up to 200 metres deep in the ocean. Therefore these analysts are claiming that the Chinese laser beams cannot reach 500 metres.

The scientists in the Project Guanlan are claiming that the artificial light beams used in the project are more powerful as compared to the rays of the Sun. The Chinese scientists have also said that the Lidar (Light and Radar) technology is being used in this project. The Chinese scientists are therefore, claiming that it will be easy for the satellite to target a submarine at a depth of 500 metres.

The United States and the Soviet Union had declared that they had a capacity to hit a target at the depth of 100 metres in the ocean. But neither the United States nor Russia has published any information about Laser satellites, since the end of the Cold War. The United States has equipped the surveillance aircrafts with Lasers capable of hitting a target at the depth of 200 metres in the ocean.