2y ago

China lobs tech demo into orbit for People's Republic version of Starlink

www.theregister.com

China launches satellite internet demo into orbit

6 comments

Great. More space junk.
- There’s maybe never been a project that so obviously called for global collaboration. Even if we ended up with separate constellations for the 1st world and 2nd world, that’d still be less than just the U.S. projects I can name off the top of my head (Starlink and Project Kuiper plus whatever HughesNet and ViaSat are doing to keep up).
  I obviously get that isn’t politically possible. But it’d be nice if we could have satellite internet without screwing with astronomy and risking Kessler Syndrome.
- Hopefully the coming Kessler syndrome will be short-lived and confined to vleo
Am I drunk or does the thumbnail look like China owns Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan? WTF?
- China thinks they own everything else. Why are the Stan's not subject to that claim? What makes them special?
This is the best summary I could come up with:
China's various media mouthpieces said the payload consisted of a single satellite, and its description suggests the purpose is for testing technology to be used for the nation's version of mega-constellations, such as Starlink and the soon-to-be-launched Project Kuiper.
Although the dimensions of the satellite remain shrouded in mystery – China only confirmed the mission once the payload was successfully launched – the Long March 2D is capable of sending a 1.3-ton spacecraft into a Sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 700km.
As with yesterday's launch, the payload's purpose was to "carry out test missions for satellite internet technologies."
While Chinese authorities claimed a single satellite was launched on the July 9 mission, two objects have since been cataloged.
Guowang is planned to consist of thousands of satellites in low Earth orbit to facilitate telecommunication and internet coverage.
According to Shanghai Securities News, in 2021 Bao Weimin, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said: "We are planning and developing space internet satellites, and have launched test satellites."
The original article contains 332 words, the summary contains 189 words. Saved 43%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

6 comments