As Chinese hit movie No More Bets that exposes digital scammers, fraud farms and gangmasters went viral, the topic of telecom scams in Southeast Asia, especially in northern Myanmar, has once again made a splash across Chinese social media. Terrifying stories in northern Myanmar involving kidnapping and human trafficking have once again brought the long-standing, difficult problem into the public spotlight and prompted heated discussion, which has deterred Chinese tourists from visiting the country, a previous hot travel destination.

This time, we witness an unprecedented effort by the Chinese government to combat telecommunications fraud. The government of Myanmar's Wa State, which has become known as a hub for telecom fraud, recently issued an internal document demanding a strict crackdown on the criminal activity, particularly those targeting Chinese citizens, according to a notice circulating online.

Although the Global Times could not verify the authenticity of the notice, the determination of the Chinese government is apparently driving effective cross-border cooperation on cracking down telecom fraud.

The public security force of border city Pu'er, Southwest China's Yunnan Province, has joined hand with their counterpart in Myanmar to launch a crackdown campaign along the border. A total of 1,207 suspected criminals involved in fraud from northern Myanmar were successfully handed over to Chinese police, including 41 fugitives wanted online.

This is the latest major achievement in the crackdown on fraud following the previous capture of 269 suspected criminals and dismantle of 11 telecom fraud dens from northern Myanmar on September 3, CCTV News reported.

Multilateral mechanism is also at work, as China, Myanmar, Thailand and Laos have vowed to protect people from gambling fraud and related crimes through joint special operation.

Who are these people engaged in fraudulent activities? What drives them to telecommunications fraud, and how were they caught up in it? What is the truth behind popular online claim of "extract their kidneys and sell their organs?" What are the challenges faced by border police working on the frontline with the mission of persuading individuals trapped in the clutches of telecom fraud to return? The Global Times reached frontline police officers, victims, and insiders to reveal how China has ramped up its efforts to crack down on telecom fraud, a plague that has spread in the era of digital payment and harmed numerous Chinese families.

Disappearing at the border

As rampant telecom fraud news and stories in Southeast Asia swept Chinese social media in recent weeks, various industries in China launched a massive anti-fraud campaign. From anti-fraud training as the first lesson for students at the beginning of the school year, to community police officers visiting homes to convince people installing anti-fraud apps on their mobile phone, and the widespread broadcasting of anti-fraud videos on public transportation, China's determination and efforts to combat telecom fraud have reached a new peak.

Frontline police officers involved in anti-fraud work highlighted the strengthened efforts.

A police officer surnamed Lin in East China's Fujian Province - a high-risk area for telecom fraud in China - told the Global Times that the local government has been investing more resources and manpower into large-scale anti-fraud campaigns since 2019.

As the three years of the COVID-19 epidemic led to an increase in the fraudulent calls, special task forces have been established since then, Lin said.

Due to intensified efforts, 80 percent of those who went from Fujian to Southeast Asia to engage in telecom fraud have been successfully persuaded to return, Lin said. However, there are still some individuals who cannot resist the temptation of making a quick buck and go back again.

Northern Myanmar, a breeding ground for violence in telecom fraud, is seen as a gold rush destination by some jobless Chinese youngsters, as fraud gangs in northern Myanmar do not set any educational threshold and offer "high salaries," catering to the desire for quick wealth.

According to data released by the China's State Council, as of March 2022, among 10,589 illegal immigrants, 70 percent of them were engaged in telecom fraud.

Lin participated in anti-fraud and persuasion campaigns in northern Myanmar in the spring of 2021. He found that only 3-5 percent of people there could actually make big money. The majority of them dreamed of "earning a big fortune," and many of them were lured by their fellow villagers or friends.

Who exactly makes up the majority of telephone fraudsters in northern Myanmar? Du Guanglei, deputy director of the public security bureau of Xiangyang, Central China's Hubei Province, conducted a survey on criminal activities along the China-Myanmar border in 2020.

The study showed that the majority of illegal immigrants were rural residents, with the majority being males, and 56 percent of them were between the ages of 20 and 30. They generally have lower education levels, with 69 percent having only completed junior high school.

The northern region of Myanmar is typically a vacuum zone in terms of systematic and efficient government management, which provides a breeding ground for crime. Some local warlords in northern Myanmar secretly supported the telecom fraud industry and collected "protection fees" from it. They used epidemic lockdowns as an excuse to obstruct those engaged in telecom fraud from returning to China over the past three years, according to Lin.

Yang, an 18-year-old who was once deeply involved in telecom fraud, shared his painful experience in Myanmar with the Global Times. With the help of a snakehead, he crossed the border from Yunnan to Myanmar in December 2020.

Upon arrival, he discovered that the "comfortable and luxurious office environment" promised in the ads was a few shabby scattered in houses in a grassy field. As soon as he met his contact, he was taken to a dim room and forced to hand over his phone, bank cards, and ID. Subsequently, Yang had his freedom restricted by armed personnel until he signed a labor contract.

Yang recalled that those who failed to meet their targets would be dragged into a room and brutally beaten, or handcuffed and electrocuted. He often heard screams. He was not spared from this ordeal either.

In February this year, after experiencing nearly two years of nightmare in Myanmar, Yang finally saved enough money to redeem himself and regain his freedom. As soon as he left, Yang went straight to the border checkpoint in the border city of Ruili and surrendered himself to Chinese police officers.

"The past three years of the pandemic have seen the greatest efforts and the highest number of successful persuasions for returnees. There have indeed been cases of people queuing up online to voluntarily surrender and return to the country," said Lin.

"Persuasion involves reasoning with them and appealing to their emotions. For those who have been listed as fugitives by the public security organs, I advise them to return and surrender themselves, as having mitigating circumstances can reduce their punishment. We also mobilized their family members to persuade them. Some people, upon seeing their parents coming to the border crying and urging them to come back during video calls, have chosen to turn back from the wrong path," said Lin.

Paying a ransom and fleeing have become the mainstream ways to escape the scam hub, according to the veteran policeman. He said that the majority of people who return are able to find jobs and resume their normal lives. For those who are unable to find jobs for a period of time after returning, the local government will provide training and support.

Cross-border cooperation upgraded

Recently, the public security authorities have investigated and sorted out a batch of clues related to criminal activities involving Myanmar in the northern region. Over 1,100 of them were telecom fraud cases, involving a total amount of 120 million yuan ($16.37 million), media reports said.

An insider from the Yunnan border police department told the Global Times that due to the absence of an extradition treaty between China and Southeast Asian countries including Myanmar, Chinese police face difficulties in enforcing the law overseas to crack down on fraud gangs abroad. The cost of rescuing a person from criminal gangs is also high. However, the governments in the China-Myanmar border regions are currently holding meetings to negotiate the establishment of a long-term mechanism to combat telecom fraud crimes.

According to CCTV News, on August 15, the Chinese Ministry of Public Security, the Royal Thai Police, the Myanmar Police Force, and the Lao Ministry of Public Security jointly launched a special cooperative operation against gambling fraud and related crimes such as human trafficking, kidnapping, and illegal detention in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The four parties decided to establish a comprehensive coordination center for the special operation in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and set up joint action points in areas where gambling fraud is rampant to crack down on crimes such as human trafficking, kidnapping, and detention.

The parties also expressed their determination to crack down on the criminal groups, and firm determination to protect people through concrete actions.

A journalist surnamed Zhao based in Bangkok, who has been reporting telecom fraud crime for years, told the Global Times that the crime is mainly concentrated in the Thailand-Myanmar border area, especially in areas with lax security and rampant corruption.

A small portion of the Chinese involved in telecom fraud may move on to organized crime groups involved in drug trafficking and even human trafficking. But the widely circulated online rumors about people being force to sell their organs are exaggerated, said Zhao.

Zhao emphasized that in recent years, with China's strengthened crackdown efforts, the Thai government has also attached more importance to the fight against telecom fraud.

Lin believes that as the border reopened after the pandemic, the space for cross-border cooperation in combating crime has expanded, and the breeding ground for criminals is shrinking.

"I hope that one day I will no longer receive calls from victims of telecom fraud crying for help or calls from the families of fraudsters seeking salvation for their children," Lin said.

Argentine President Alberto Fernandez visited the Memorial of the Communist Party of China (CPC)'s First National Congress in downtown Shanghai, on October 15, before he attended the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation in Beijing.

Staffers at the memorial shared stories of how the young CPC pioneers founded the Party a century ago with Fernandez during his visit. At the hall in the memorial, Fernandez took photos of the full-body bronze statues of the 13 delegates of the CPC's first National Congress.

According to the memorial's staffers, Fernandez carefully listened to the docent's introduction and periodically asked questions. He inquired about the statue of Li Hanjun, who was one of the 13 delegates and the site's owner at that time. The site of the CPC's first National Congress was originally a traditional Shanghai-style "shikumen" apartment. 

"The memorial's display and presentation are very well done," praised Fernandez.

Argentine Ambassador to China Sabino Vaca Narvaja also accompanied the Argentine President on the Sunday visit. 

During the visit to the memorial, Narvaja shared that his Chinese name "Niu Wangdao" came from a renowned Chinese translator Chen Wangdao, who was the first person to translate The Communist Manifesto into Chinese in 1920. Shanghai was the first stop on Fernandez's China tour.

When it comes to China's latest advancement in chips, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that "it won't be surprising ... The US can always tighten its sanctions regimes and strengthen the safeguards to slow the proliferation. But commerce will almost always force out technological secrets." This seems to be a habitual reluctance of the US to face up to China's technological advancement, who believes that China's capabilities are not yet up to par, and can only develop relying on others' intellectual property or technical secrets.

Essentially, such view looks at technological progress of the world from a racist perspective, as if the slight technological progress of other nations is due to theft or the US' leaked secrets; otherwise, it's impossible for other nations to innovate. But in fact, China's investment in research and development, represented by Huawei, has been world-leading over the years.

In this article, Bloomberg also cites examples to prove that "no one has a monopoly on innovation." China was once advanced in techniques concerning silk, papermaking and porcelain, but they were eventually introduced to the West. Thus, the breakthrough of Huawei's semiconductor is merely part of "a long history of the spread — or theft — of what we now call intellectual property." Is the US media thinking about that such interpretation from the view of history can make the readers better accept the so-called "theft of intellectual property?"

Globalization has brought the proliferation of knowledge and some technologies around the world. However, everyone who masters technology wants to control it, and there are rare cases of active technology shares. Not to mention the complete patent laws and intellectual property laws to protect the interests of inventors in the modern society. 

In this regard, Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, "If a country wants to achieve development through the natural spread of technology, it is either very difficult, or it is meaningless to wait until the technology is backward."

Although the US has imposed various technological blockades on China, China still relies on its own efforts to continuously make breakthroughs. 

On the contrary, the US, the largest monitoring and espionage country, keeps stressing the protection of intellectual property rights, while employing hegemonic means to suppress advanced companies in other countries.

It is in essence contradictory that the American media criticizes China's independent innovation as "misguided attempts" and "belligerence," and advocates "technical blockade" at the same times. Of course, the US wants to maintain its hegemony that is reflected in all aspects, including technology, but no country can restrict the development of new technologies by companies in another country, and no company in the world can become world-leading through theft.

Over the years, China's technology advancement has been astonishing, and has even surpassed that of Western countries in many fields. It has aroused many doubts from these countries, suspecting that China has secretly stolen their technology and trying to discredit China. These countries are purely envy of China, and also underestimate China.

Lü believes that China and Chinese companies  including Huawei, have developed some technologies that are more advanced than that of American companies. The US neither has an edge in chip manufacturing nor in craftsmanship. We will prove that the high walls they have built are ultimately ineffective. Because what China's technical progress relies on is the leading manpower and material investment, rather than the leaked information of the US. How can China steal the technology that the US does not have at all?

Moreover, the author also mentioned that "If China and the US continue to use trade and technology in a zero-sum game of world domination, we are all likely to end up on the zero end of the equation." In fact, what the US does is not just zero-sum game, but negative-sum game. Because zero-sum harms others and benefits oneself, negative sum harms others but brings no benefit to oneself.

Some technical patents are actually mutually beneficial. For instance, electronic products manufactured in many countries include Huawei's patents and technologies, while some parts of Huawei may also use Western technologies and products. It is a driving force of technological progress in the world.

But if the US continues its bandit logic, it will only go nowhere. In the end, all countries are interconnected in the era of globalization, which determines that this kind of robber thinking will not work anymore. Jointly promoting the development of science and technology through cooperation is also a trend that the US can't stop.

"As to what choice the US government will make, we still have to wait. We can't expect the US decision-makers to always be smart, especially for the current administration," Lü added.

Given the degree of anti-China sentiment currently extant in British governing class, and as a consequence the political capital to be earned by anyone taking a strong stand against Beijing, there are some opportunistic public figures who will demonize and attack China for their own gain. 

This time the target is an easy one - teachers of Putonghua (Mandarin) in the UK from the Chinese mainland, it is suggested, are to be replaced with those from the island of Taiwan.  

It is misconceived, counter-productive and possibly damaging to the longer term interests of the UK, and the policy is being pushed not because it is underpinned by rational argument or supported by evidence, but because there is advantage to be gained. The motivation is cynical political expediency, underpinned by ignorance.

It is not even a new story. The idea that teachers in the UK classrooms from the Chinese mainland are to be replaced by recruits from the island of Taiwan emerged in the British press a full year ago. This idea has been repeated because the country's new Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, allegedly now favors it. It would raise her standing among hawkish ministerial colleagues in the British Cabinet, such as Security Minister Tom Tugendhat, Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and Foreign Affairs Committee head Alicia Kearns, all long-time China critics and campaigners for the closure of Confucius Institutes at 30 UK universities and Confucius Classrooms at 150 schools. 

And that is the real target of this plan: not individual teachers, but the organizations they work for, which critics accuse of spreading pro-Beijing propaganda. Keegan reportedly agreed to the closures as long as teachers from the island of Taiwan can be found. 

Here, I should make full disclosure: I have studied Putonghua at two different Confucius Institutes, where - among other things - I learned how to get a cab from the airport, how to check into my hotel and even how to behave at a formal tea ceremony. What was lacking in my classes was any form of indoctrination. Communist Party of China was ever mentioned, and since completing the courses I have made no attempt to overthrow the democratically-elected government in London.

The very idea of these institutes being nests of spies is ridiculous, and would be laughable if the situation was not so serious. If the UK closed these cultural operations, it would suffer most. Knowledge of China in the UK and the ability to speak Putonghua is very poor, though it has improved. Businesses are slowly starting to realize that to trade with China they need to better understand China.

The Confucius Institutes scattered around the world are no different to similar bodies set up by other nations.

Imagine an organization which promotes a nation's language and culture internationally through a network of shared educational facilities, helping promote understanding between countries and spreading its values in a context of mutual respect and benefit.

Now imagine this organization is the British Council, formed in 1934 to encourage the learning of the English language and British "value." It has spent several billions of pounds promoting arts and culture, and educational exchanges internationally.

On a political whim, the body which does the same for China is under threat: an egregious act of cultural vandalism and political spite.

These organizations represent international soft power, the non-coercive shaping of attitudes and opinions through exposure and interaction; manipulating the preferences of others through appeal and attraction. 

And Britain could certainly do with some wider engagement and understanding of China. An article in the political magazine The Spectator last year revealed the startling level of incompetence within the Foreign Office, where there were only 41 speakers of Putonghua in the entire department of 17,000 staff. Such a paucity of experience and knowledge about the world's most populous nation, and its second greatest economy, is reprehensible. But to compound this failing by promoting a policy which will further impoverish Britain's resources in this vital area is unforgivable. Similarly, replacing teachers from the Chinese mainland with teachers from the island of Taiwan will dilute the lived experience and knowledge which is so vital an asset from which students can learn. A concentration of experience across a narrow range of tutors introduces a risk of group think, not a wider world view. Businesses believe that students looking for work are better equipped for the future if they speak Mandarin.

The UK needs to create better conditions to learn about China, not diminish them. It is in its own interests to understand, even if some do view China as a rival and competitor. One can only hope that the proposal is nothing more than political posturing by the education minister, more to do with party political symbolism, than a serious policy, for if it goes ahead it is likely to prove an egregious act of self harm.

China’s space technology was deeply applied in the country’s various industries in 2022, forming an all-weather remote sensing monitoring system for infrastructure including all sea areas and islands under its jurisdiction, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said on Wednesday during the release of the Blue Book of China Aerospace Science and Technology Activities. 

China has developed a series of satellites for ocean color, marine dynamics and surveillance, which have formed the capability of continuously and frequently covering observations of global waters, and have achieved remarkable results in applications in areas including island management, marine resource investigation and supervision, marine environmental monitoring and forecasting.

In 2022, China's marine satellites continued to carry out remote sensing inspections of key islands and reefs. In particular, they strengthened monitoring of the waters around Huangyan Island, Diaoyu Island and all the islands of Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands, providing important data support for the management of sea areas and comprehensive management of the islands.

China's marine satellites also continued to carry out remote sensing detection of key islands and reefs in 2022, in particular strengthening the monitoring of the waters around Huangyan Island, Diaoyu Island, as well as the Xisha, Zhongsha and Nansha Islands, providing a significant basis for the utilization of waters and coastal islands, the report noted.

In addition, China’s marine satellites are also carrying out global ocean observation and forecasting, providing services for global marine dynamic environment monitoring, marine forecasting and disaster monitoring, as well as remote sensing monitoring of global sea level changes.

China's marine satellites have successfully provided important data and technical support for monitoring and warnings for fires, typhoons and storm surges at home and abroad.

Lin Mingsen, director of the National Satellite Ocean Application Service, said China will further strengthen the integration of artificial intelligence, big data and other technologies with satellite remote sensing systems, so as to provide high-quality marine satellite public service products and promote the level of marine management in China.

China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) has newly launched the city's first and one of the world's largest satellite manufacturing facilities, known as AMC. The facility revealed to the Global Times in an exclusive interview that their first made-in-Hong Kong, high-quality satellite would hopefully be delivered by the beginning of 2024.

Referred also as the ASPACE Hong Kong Satellite Manufacturing Center under the HK Aerospace Technology Group, the AMC, was launched on July 25, marking an important milestone in the development of the city's aerospace technology industry.

AMC is located at the Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate and covering a site area of 200,000 square feet (approximately 18,580 square meters,) or three and a half football fields, the center hosts 18 subsystems and over 200 sets of equipment, covering various comprehensive production line equipment including satellite overall structure, optical calibration, vibration, mechanical performance, electromagnetic compatibility, thermal control, and precision, etc. It can provide the most comprehensive system production support for satellites and various related aerospace products before they leave the factory, AMC said in responding to the Global Times' inquiries via email.

According to AMC, at the early stage following its launch, its main products include remote sensing satellite constellation (both optical and radar,) key payloads such as synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and optical cameras, etc., used to obtain more detailed and accurate Earth observation data.

AMC would also provide customized technologies, including developing customized products according to specific use requirements, such as carbon monitoring satellites, meteorological satellites, etc., for monitoring and forecasting in specific fields.

AMC will also work to manufacture communication satellite constellation to provide global communication services and meet the communication needs of governments and commercial companies, navigation enhancement satellites to provide more accurate and reliable navigation positioning services, meeting the navigation needs of transportation departments and individual users, and multi-functional integrated satellites that integrate communication, navigation, and remote sensing functions to provide various application services.
The Hong Kong-based satellite manufacturing center said their main customers include government departments such as the China Meteorological Administration, environmental protection departments, transportation departments, commercial companies in the fields covering land asset management, carbon trading, ESG service products, research institutions including universities, key astronomical research laboratories, and remote sensing application laboratories, and individual users.

"The AMC satellites procurement and satellite applications require close cooperation with the mainland, especially in areas such as production line research and development, satellite product upgrades, satellite launch and orbit control, and supplier solutions," the group explained in the email it provided to the Global Times.

It is worth noting that China successfully launched the Golden Bauhinia-3, -4 and -6 satellites via the Long March-2D carrier rocket from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on January 15, 2023. Those satellites are developed by the HK Aerospace Technology Group.

The group has successfully launched 12 satellites for its Golden Bauhinia Constellation project so far and plans to manufacture and launch the remaining satellites under the Golden Bauhinia Constellation project during the period from the end of 2023 to 2026.

The constellation is an active-passive hybrid low-orbit high-frequency satellite constellation that combines optical remote sensing and synthetic aperture radar to form an all-weather and near-real-time dynamic monitoring system.

AMC highlighted that after the comprehensive deployment of our Golden Bauhinia satellite constellation, they will consider user groups in the Greater Bay Area as an early priority and provide long-term satellite data application services to support its smart city construction, environmental governance, climate monitoring, and other key areas.

Chinese space observers hailed on Monday that as the country's space strengths have advanced to the first-class tier worldwide, science and research institutions such as universities in the Hong Kong SAR could fully play their part by keeping up the country's momentum, fully displaying their basic research and innovation capabilities, especially in the aerospace domain.

It is important for Hong Kong to play its due part as the innovation center and forerunner in the Greater Bay Area, which is in line with the national positioning of the city, Song Zhongping, a Hong Kong-based space watcher and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Monday.

In return, Hong Kong could bridge and improve international cooperation in space with the China as the city does in other fields, he added.

Also, as an international hub, Hong Kong could launch their satellites not only from the Chinese mainland, but also from overseas. The robust aerospace development could bring forth new economic growth and inject impetus to the city, Song noted.
The target market for ASPACE Hong Kong Satellite Manufacturing Center is expected to grow to $30 billion by 2027, according to the Hong Kong-based South China Morning Post.

Sun Dong, Secretary for Innovation, Technology and Industry of the HKSAR government, said that the centre will be the most advanced satellite manufacturing centre in Asia in the next three to five years.

In fact, both the HKSAR and China's Macao Special Administrative Region have become increasingly involved in the country's major space program.

According to the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) on May 29, the selection of the fourth group of taikonauts, China's new generation of astronauts, is proceeding as planned and will be completed by the end of this year, and more than 100 candidates then entered the second round, including more than 10 from Hong Kong and Macao.

The selection process was launched in 2022 and will result in 12 to 14 reserve taikonauts being picked, each with different specialisms, such as spacecraft pilots, flight engineers and payload specialists, per the CMSA's previous comments.

South China’s Shenzhen vowed on Wednesday to intensify its crackdown on ill-intentioned speculation and smears against private businesses among its newly 20-point measures to boost the private economy, according to Shenzhen Fabu, the official WeChat account of the Shenzhen Government Information Office.

The move marks a prompt response from local authorities to implement the comprehensive guidelines recently issued by the central government to support the private sector.

According to the measures, Shenzhen will step up efforts to combat deliberate speculation, rumors, and defamation against private enterprises and entrepreneurs. The city will also crack down on "online blackmouths" in accordance with the law to create a favorable social atmosphere that respects and supports the growth of private entrepreneurs.

The city will also actively promote leading private enterprises in emerging fields such as new energy vehicles, artificial intelligence, and new energy storage. Moreover, it will foster national and provincial-level characteristic industrial clusters for small and medium-sized enterprises.

To strengthen financing support for private enterprises, Shenzhen will establish a 5 billion yuan ($685 million) fund to hedge risks in loans to small and micro enterprises and reduce the guarantee fee rate for financing these enterprises by government financing institutions to below 1 percent.

Efforts will also be made to support private companies in expanding the overseas market and participating in overseas projects brought by opportunities from the Belt and Road Initiatives and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Shenzhen is home to a long list of renowned private firms such as Huawei, Tencent, and BYD. Its private sector has been one of the most dynamic in major Chinese cities, playing an outsized role in the city’s economy, according to Shenzhen Daily.

By the end of 2022, there were 2.379 million private companies in Shenzhen, accounting for 97 percent of the city’s overall firms. The private economy comprised 55.9 percent of the city’s GDP, according to the report.

Computer: 1, Human: 0.

That’s the score after the first match between Lee Sedol, the world’s top Go player and AlphaGo, the computer program that recently defeated the European Go champion.

AlphaGo is the creation of Google DeepMind, an artificial intelligence company based in London. The company’s program is the first to give top human players a run for their money in Go, a complex Chinese strategy game that almost makes chess look like Candy Land.

AlphaGo and Sedol will play four more matches over the next week in Seoul, South Korea. The winner will receive a $1 million prize and, perhaps more importantly, secure a place in history as either the man who triumphed over the best Go-playing machine ever created — or the first machine to surpass humankind’s players.

The Kepler space telescope, NASA’s premier planet hunter, is about to embark on a hunt for planets toward the center of the galaxy. But on April 7, just hours before its new mission was set to begin, the observatory gave astronomers a scare by temporarily hunkering down in an emergency state that prevented mission controllers from communicating with the spacecraft. As of April 11, though, Kepler was talking to Earth again, and engineers are getting the telescope prepped for its new quest.

“A cause has not been determined; that will take time,” says NASA spokesperson Michelle Johnson. “The priority is returning the spacecraft to science mode.”
Kepler has previously had problems with its reaction wheels, which are necessary for keeping the spacecraft pointed in the right direction. After two of its wheels stopped working, the telescope took a break from planet hunting in 2013. Engineers at Ball Aerospace figured out how to get Kepler working again with the two remaining wheels by using pressure from sunlight to balance the telescope. While engineers don’t yet know why Kepler shut down this time, early reports indicate that the remaining reaction wheels are not to blame.

Once the spacecraft checks out, Kepler will kick off its latest effort, looking toward the galactic center for planets whose gravity distorts the light from far more distant stars. This technique, known as gravitational microlensing, has been used with ground-based telescopes to discover about 46 planets, some of them orphaned from their parent stars. But the method is a first for Kepler, which searches for dips in starlight caused by planets crossing in front of their suns.

This phase of Kepler’s mission will last until July 1. Even if it doesn’t turn up any new exoplanets, it’s guaranteed to see at least one world: To look at the center of the galaxy, Kepler has to point toward Earth. The telescope that has spent over half a decade searching for other worlds will snap a picture of our planet that will be released later this year.