China has successfully launched the first batch of low-orbit communications megaconstellation. This was announced by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which is the country's leading space contractor.
The Long March 6A (Long March 6A) rocket took off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China. The upper part of the rocket launched 18 Thousand Sails satellites into polar orbit for SSST (Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology).
The first phase of the constellation will consist of 1296 satellites. 648 of them will be launched by the end of 2025 to provide regional network coverage.
It was previously reported that 108 satellites will be launched during 2024. In the final stage, the constellation should include more than 14 thousand broadband multimedia communication satellites in low Earth orbit.
The Starlink network, whose service provider is the American company SpaceX, already offers customers wide Internet services.
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