00:00First, a crash course on satellites.
00:03They come in many sizes these days, sent into space on rockets
00:07that launch them into different orbits for different functions.
00:11Elon Musk's Starlink operates in lower Earth orbit
00:14to provide space-based internet connections.
00:17It dominates the field, with more than 7,000 satellites
00:21circling the globe in a constellation.
00:24Europe's UTELSAT is the second biggest space internet operator,
00:28but with just over 600 satellites, it doesn't even come close.
00:33This means that in times of crisis, Starlink can call the shots,
00:37and it does in parts of Ukraine.
00:40You can see here where the operator has restricted use
00:43particularly along the front line and areas occupied by Russian forces.
00:48And this? This is what no country wants, to lose control.
00:53Satellite internet services are extra important in wartime,
00:59especially here in Taiwan, where recently some of the undersea cables
01:04apparently got sabotaged most likely by China.
01:07We're here at Tron Future, a Taiwanese defense startup,
01:11and they told us that they can't show us that much
01:14because so much of it is top secret.
01:16But let's see what they have to say.
01:18Tron Future is part of a coordinated effort
01:23to make this island more satellite self-reliant.
01:27So tell us about what this is.
01:30Okay, this is some of the early product we developed for TASA.
01:35For the space agency.
01:36For the space agency.
01:37Yeah.
01:38So for TASA, Taiwan Space Agency.
01:39So this is already called a downlink transmitter.
01:44This is a payload.
01:45It's just part of the satellite.
01:47For this particular case, it's a communication system.
01:55Is it possible to get China out of the entire supply chain
02:00when it comes to something like satellite technology?
02:02Yes.
02:03From day one, there was no Chinese parts within our products basically.
02:09What's your capacity like right now?
02:11If suddenly you got an order for a thousand parts of something critical in a satellite,
02:16would you be able to do that or ten thousand?
02:18We will be able to produce a few hundred of this per month this year basically.
02:25William Yang is with the International Crisis Group.
02:28He says Taiwan is at the infancy stage of capabilities.
02:33They have been making a lot of progress in recent years.
02:36But when it comes to sophistication, I think we are still definitely not entirely there yet.
02:42Companies such as Europe's UTELSAT offer Taiwan an interim solution for lower-Earth orbit services.
02:49With some analysts saying Beijing might invade as soon as 2027,
02:52there's no time to waste in setting up non-Starlink alternatives.
02:57One key reason for Taiwan to work on diversifying its satellite provider
03:04is because of the potential vulnerability of relying on one sole provider
03:11who may have a conflict of interest with their other business interest in China.
03:19With just one satellite of its own so far, Taiwan has its work cut out.
03:24Russia's invasion of Ukraine has shown the world how much modern warfare relies on not just what's happening on the ground,
03:31but what's happening up above.
03:33This video shows the satellites passing over China and Taiwan at any given moment.
03:39Pull out and you get a sense of just how many there are and how daunting the challenge is for countries at a disadvantage.
03:46A fact that has propelled many governments, not just Taiwan's, to get going in this satellite space race.
03:53The satellite space race.
03:54The satellite space race.
03:55The satellite space race.
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