The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using an advanced intelligence-gathering satellite for hunting US aircraft carriers and other military assets worldwide, according to South China Morning Post.
Space researcher Yang Fang and her team at DFH Satellite Co., Ltd in Hong Kong published a report in the domestic peer-reviewed journal Spacecraft Engineering that reveals China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) used an AI-powered satellite to detect and “live stream” the USS Harry S. Truman.
A remote sensing satellite, powered by artificial intelligence technology, lurked in low Earth orbit above North America on June 17 of last year and automatically detected the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier off the coast of Long Island, New York. It captured footage of the vessel conducting naval maneuvers, such as adjusting formation and making emergency maneuvers.
Fang said the satellite is incredibly powerful and can analyze hundreds of frames of high-definition images per second for strategic targets — something that would take ground-based computers much longer. And humans would struggle at this very intel-gathering task.
Yang’s team determined Beijing has made a breakthrough in “weight reduction” and image recognition with the algorithm that only needs about 3% of the calculation power used by traditional algorithms when conducting similar tasks.
The satellite is equipped with a family of AI chipsets that can perform multiple tasks, and if one chip fails, another would come online as backup and immediately take over tasks.
Researchers didn’t name the satellite but said it also detected and obtained positions of military assets in northeastern Australia.
This new type of intelligence gathering via AI-powered satellites could one day have a more significant role in decision-making for PLA commanders. Beijing believes that future warfare is through high-tech weapons aided by supercomputers.
The revolution in AI is crucial for PLA to enhance its weapons race with the West as a global power struggle is well underway with Washington. CCP wants to retake Taiwan, dominate the South China Sea and the East China Sea, and even become more prevalent in the Pacific.
