China has began constructing its second huge satellite-internet constellation in low Earth orbit (LEO).
A Lengthy March 5B rocket lifted off from Wenchang Area Launch Middle on the island of Hainan Monday (Dec. 16) at 5:00 a.m. EDT (1000 GMT; 6 p.m. native time), carrying 10 broadband spacecraft aloft.
All the pieces went nicely, in line with the China Academy of Launch Automobile Expertise (CALT), the state-owned firm that builds the Lengthy March household of rockets.
“The satellites entered the predetermined orbit easily and the launch mission was an entire success,” CALT wrote in an replace on WeChat early Tuesday morning (Dec. 17). (Translation by Google.)
That replace describes the satellites as “big in measurement” however doesn’t give any numbers for his or her mass or dimensions. It additionally does not specify the place the spacecraft have been deployed, however we have now that data, due to astrophysicist and satellite tv for pc tracker Jonathan McDowell and the U.S. Area Drive.
“Congratulations to Area Drive @S4S_SDA on the speedy cataloging of the ten Chinese language web satellites launched at this time, in 1097 x 1110 km x 86.5 deg orbits,” McDowell stated through X on Monday.
The newly launched satellites are the primary batch for Guowang, a broadband megaconstellation in LEO that may ultimately include practically 13,000 spacecraft, if all goes in line with plan.
Guowang, whose identify interprets as “nationwide community,” will likely be managed by an organization known as China Satnet, which the Chinese language authorities established in 2021, as SpaceNews famous.
One other Chinese language broadband megaconstellation is beneath development as nicely — Qianfan (“Thousand Sails”), which can ultimately characteristic about 13,000 satellites. Fifty-four Qianfan spacecraft have launched to this point, on three missions that lifted off this yr.
Qianfan and Guowang will likely be Chinese language variations of SpaceX’s Starlink LEO megaconstellation, which is already offering service to individuals all over the world.
Starlink at the moment consists of greater than 6,800 lively satellites, however that quantity is rising on a regular basis; SpaceX has launched greater than 80 Starlink missions this yr alone. Ultimately, the megaconstellation may have greater than 40,000 satellites.
On earlier missions, the 23-ton core stage of the Lengthy March 5B has crashed again to Earth in an uncontrolled style a couple of week after lifting off, drawing criticism from throughout the area neighborhood. However this apparently didn’t occur on Monday’s Guowang launch; in line with SpaceNews, the core stage wasn’t anticipated to succeed in orbit, as a result of the mission used an higher stage known as YZ-2 to ship the satellites to their desired vacation spot.
