China successfully put 18 satellites into orbit around the Earth on Tuesday as Beijing bids to create its own version of Elon Musk firm Starlink’s network.
The launch of the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites by state-owned Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST) took place at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in the northern Shanxi province, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The satellites were carried aboard a Long March 6 rocket and represent the first batch in SSST’s “Thousand Sails Constellation” plan, CCTV reported.
Also on AF: A Third of Carbon Credits Fail on New ‘High-Integrity’ Criteria
The state-backed plan is one of China’s answers to Starlink, SpaceX’s growing commercial broadband constellation that has about 5,500 LEO satellites in space to provide near-global internet to consumers, companies and government agencies.
Starlink is a subsidiary of US entrepreneur Elon Musk’s SpaceX space company.
LEO satellites usually operate at altitudes of 300km to 2,000km from the Earth’s surface and have the advantage of being cheaper and providing more efficient transmission than satellites at higher orbits.
Control over the satellites that occupy these altitudes has significant military implications.
Since 2022, when the Ukraine war demonstrated the importance of Starlink to battlefield communications, media affiliated with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have published several editorials about the threat Starlink poses to China’s interests.
These editorials have described Starlink and SpaceX as part of the “space hegemony” the United States is trying to create in space, giving it a “unilateral space military advantage”.
- Reuters with additional editing by Sean O’Meara
Read more:
SpaceX Discussing Possible Rocket Landing Off Australia
India’s Richest Man Beats Musk in Race for Satellite Internet
China Reaches Moon’s Far Side to Retrieve Historic Soil Samples
SpaceX Building Spy Satellite Network for US Reconnaissance
Chinese Rocket Failure Opened Door for SpaceX in Indonesia
