Chinese researchers look at how to keep satellites under the radar
- The science of avoiding detection has progressed rapidly, including a new proposal to coat a satellite in composite materials to absorb radar waves
- A researcher with the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics says the use of stealth technology in space requires new laws and regulation
A research team in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, has developed stealth technology for use by small satellites to blind radar detection.
Spotting and tracing a small satellite is difficult, even with a large telescope, but some ground-based radar stations can identify an object as small as a pen in the near-Earth orbit, day or night.
The new stealth technology could reduce the strength of radar signals by more than 80 per cent, making the small satellite virtually invisible on a radar screen, according to the Chinese researchers.
Radar operators often scanned the sky with electromagnetic waves of different frequencies, interacting with a wide range of materials to ensure they do not miss anything.
The Nanjing team said they could coat a satellite with layers of composite materials with a honeycomb structure that would absorb radar waves at all known operating bandwidths.