獨家：中國將不能使用使用澳大利亞的太空追踪站

Recently Yahoo News reported the following:

Exclusive: China to lose access to Australian space tracking station

Jonathan Barrett

Reuters Sun., September 20, 2020, 10:45 p.m. PDT

By Jonathan Barrett

SYDNEY (Reuters) - China will lose access to a strategic space tracking station in Western Australia when its contract expires, the facility's owners said, a decision that cuts into Beijing's expanding space exploration and navigational capabilities in the Pacific region.

The Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) has had a contract allowing Beijing access to the satellite antenna at the ground station since at least 2011. It is located next to an SSC satellite station primarily used by the United States and its agencies, including NASA.

The Swedish state-owned company told Reuters it would not enter into any new contracts at the Australian site to support Chinese customers after its current contract expires. However, it did not disclose when the lease runs out.

"Given the complexity of the Chinese market, brought about by the overall geopolitical situation, SSC has decided to focus mainly on other markets for the coming years," the SSC said in an emailed response to questions.

The site is owned by SSC subsidiary, SSC Space Australia.

The Australian government did not immediately respond to questions on Monday.

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The expansion of China's space capabilities, which includes the growing sophistication of its Beidou navigation network, is one of the new frontiers of tension between the U.S. and China, who are clashing on everything from technology and trade to Chinese activities in the disputed South China Sea.

Australia has a strong alliance with the United States, which includes working together on space research and programmes, while Canberra's diplomatic and trade ties with Beijing have also been fracturing.

China last used the Yatharagga Satellite Station, located about 350 km (250 miles) north of the Australian city of Perth, in June 2013 to support the three-person Shenzhou 10 mission which completed a series of space docking tests, SSC said.

The SSC said the current contract supports Chinese scientific space missions within its programme for manned-space flights for telemetry, tracking and command services.

OVERSEAS EXPANSION

Ground stations are a vital part of space programmes given they create a telecommunications link with spacecraft. While stations have different capabilities, they can be equipped to co-ordinate satellites for civil-military Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as Beidou, Russia's GLONASS, the European Union's Galileo system and U.S.-owned GPS.

China's space programme has been increasing its access to overseas ground stations in recent years in line with the expansion of its space exploration and navigational programmes.

"Generally speaking anywhere you put a GNSS monitoring ground station will improve the accuracy of positioning for that region," said Joon Wayn Cheong, a senior research associate at the University of New South Wales' School of Electrical Engineering.

Christopher Newman, professor of Space Law and Policy at Northumbria University in Newcastle, England, said China wants to remove its dependence on GPS as part of broader plans to expand its global influence.

"GPS could be made unavailable to them in a military conflict. An independent secure system is crucial for the capabilities of the People's Liberation Army in respect to targeting, weapons, navigation," Newman told Reuters.

Beijing last year re-established diplomatic ties with the small Pacific island nation of Kiribati, where it has a mothballed ground station in the central Pacific Ocean.

Translation

悉尼(路透社) - 當它的合同到期, 中國將不能再使用在西澳大利亞的戰略太空追蹤站, 該設施的所有者說。  這一決定削減了北京在太平洋地區不斷擴大的太空探索和導航能力。

瑞典航太公司(SSC) 曾簽訂合同, 允許北京至少從2011年進入地面站的衛星天線。它位於一個主要由美國及其機構(包括美國宇航局)使用的SSC衛星站旁邊。

這家瑞典國有公司告訴路透社，在目前合同到期後，它不會在澳大利亞的所在地簽訂任何新合同來服務中國客戶。 但是，它沒有透露合約何時到期。

SSC在通過電子郵件對問題的答復中表示： “鑑於整體地緣政治形勢造成的中國市場的複雜性，SSC已決定在未來幾年內主要將會關注其他市場。”

該網站歸SSC子公司SSC Space Australia所有。

在週一澳大利亞政府沒有立即回應問題。

中國外交部沒有立即回應路透社的置評請求。

中國太空能力的擴大，包括北斗導航網絡的日益成熟，是中美之間緊張關係的新戦線之一，美中之間的衝突,從技術和貿易到中國在有爭議的南中國海的一切活動都存在着。

 澳大利亞與美國有強大的聯盟，其中包括在太空研究和計劃方面進行合作，而堪培拉與北京的外交和貿易關係也在破裂中。

SSC表示，中國上一次使用位於澳大利亞城市珀斯以北約350公里（250英里）的Yataragaga衛星站，是於2013年6月支援三人飛行的神舟十號飛行任務，該任務完成了一系列太空對接測試。

SSC表示，目前的合同是支援中國的科學航天任務以進行其載人航天飛行計劃中的遙測，跟踪和指揮服務。

海外擴張

地面站建立了與太空船的電信聯繫，因此它們是太空計劃的重要組成部分。地面站台具有不同的功能，它們可以配備用於協調民用全球導航衛星系統（GNSS）的衛星，例如北斗，俄羅斯的GLONASS，歐盟的伽利略系統和美國擁有的GPS。

近年來，隨著太空探索和導航計劃的擴大，中國的太空計劃一直在增加其接駁到海外的地面站。

新南威爾士大學電氣工程學院的高級研究員Joon Wayn Cheong說：“一般來說，在任何地方放置GNSS地面監視站都會提高該地區的定位精度。”

英格蘭紐卡斯爾諾桑比亞大學太空法與政策教授Christopher Newman說，中國希望消除對GPS的依賴，以此作為擴大全球影響力的更遠長計劃的一部分。

Christopher Newman在接受路透社採訪時說： “在有軍事衝突時, 可能使中國無法使用GPS。獨立的安全系統對於解放軍在瞄準，武器，導航方面的能力至關重要。”

去年，北京與太平洋島嶼小國基里巴斯（Kiribati）重新建立了外交關係。基里巴斯在太平洋中部有一個已封存的地面站。

              I think it is only a very minor setback for China. It has a lot of friendly nations in the Pacific and can set up a new tracking station there at anytime.