China Plans CCTV Moon Surveillance System
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China is planning to develop a Moon surveillance system to protect its Lunar assets, which will reportedly have millions of sensors and cameras for 24/7 monitoring of a future Chinese Moon base.
The South China Morning Post reports the system will be based on China’s current all-encompassing surveillance system called Tianwang. China has installed over 600 million surveillance cameras (about one camera for every two adult citizens) and created the world’s largest video surveillance network, which covers nearly every part of the country.
CNSA’s Lunar Exploration and Space Engineering Centre said in a paper published last month: “The construction and operation of the optical surveillance system for the [International] Lunar Research Station can draw on the successful experience … of China’s Skynet project.”
According to Interesting Engineering, the planned system will be built of cameras weighing around 100 grams each and will be coordinated by AI. The paper states these AI-enabled cameras will be “capable of identifying, locating, tracking and aiming at suspicious targets independently.”
The paper further explained that once delivered to the Moon, the cameras would automatically link up and provide seamless coverage of the station area. The cameras will also be able to capture both distant and wide-angle views, self-adjust, and operate independently if they lose communication with Earth.
The authors mention in the paper that if the system detects “abnormalities” it would “promptly generate alarm signals and initiate appropriate response measures,” which were not specified by the paper.
The planned Chinese lunar base will host facilities such as a command center, power station, communication hub, scientific research facilities, as well as a fleet of robots to help with the research process. SCMP reports that the new lunar station will require sophisticated security against possible external threats, including terrorist organizations and other nations.
