China launches its first commercial radio-tracking satellites in electronic warfare leap
China has just taken a quiet but critical step in space-based electronic warfare.
A Lijian-1 Y18 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China at noon on Sunday, carrying nine satellites. Among them were three Diting-01 satellites, which successfully entered their planned orbit.
The trio is named after Diting, a beast from Chinese mythology that crouches beneath the desk of Ksitigarbha, the bodhisattva of the underworld, and can identify all things simply by...