“If they’re talking about vulnerabilities of Starlink or Starshield, it’s because they know there are vulnerabilities that they’ve studied within their own systems,” said Martin Whelan, senior vice president of the Defense Systems Group at the Aerospace Corporation, a federally funded national nonprofit research and development center that provides analysis and technical expertise to U.S. space programs. “It does tell me, though, that they’re actively thinking about attacking a capability and denying a capability, which always makes our U.S. military nervous.”

Whelan said one of the biggest concerns in dealing with China’s growing space programs is its lack of communication. “The U.S. registers its satellites; the budgets are out there. You can read it all, but it’s less transparent on the Chinese side.”