A Long March 6A launch vehicle on Tuesday carried 18 communications satellites into low Earth orbit that are part of the Qianfan Xingzuo, or “Thousand Sails Constellation,” state broadcaster CCTV reported. It's China's response to the Starlink system of the American company SpaceX.
Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST) satellites were launched by Long March 6A from the Taiyuan Spaceport in Shanxi Province, east Chin.
The launch of 18 satellites into orbit is the first stage of the implementation of the “Constellation of a Thousand Sails” project, also known as the “G60 Star Link”, which is intended to provide broadband Internet access.
15k satellites by 2030
SSST, a space technology start-up backed by the Shanghai municipal government, has raised 6.7 billion yuan (about $940 million) for this purpose, including from private investors.
The plan is to launch 108 satellites this year and 648 by the end of 2025, and to provide “global internet access” by 2027. Ultimately, 15,000 satellites are to be in low Earth orbit by 2030.
There are currently over 6.2 thousand satellites orbiting the Earth. Starlink SpaceX. Its owner, a billionaire Elon Muskwants to place 42,000 such devices above the Earth.
Concerns about the Starlink system
The competition between the United States and China in space goes beyond commercial interests.
Reuters reports that Chinese scientists from the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have been analyzing the use of the Starlink system in the past two years. war in Ukraine and have repeatedly warned of the risks that would be posed to China if the country were to find itself in an armed conflict with USA.
In January, the Jiefangjun Bao daily, a PLA propaganda mouthpiece, reported that the “high density” of Starlink satellites “poses a serious threat to the security of various countries' space resources and affects the normal operation of other countries' satellites.”
In June, the Hong Kong daily South China Morning Post reported that the PLA was developing plans to disable or destroy Starlinks if they “threaten China's national security.”
The G60 Star Link is one of three similar projects being implemented by China under the name of the Ten Thousand Star Constellation. The other two involve the launch of 13,000 satellites by the Chinese government-owned China Satellite Network Group and 10,000 satellites by the commercial company Landray Hongqing.
Main image source: EPA/XINHUA/Zheng Bin