HELSINKI — China launched the first of a new series of “high-orbit” internet satellites on Thursday in an apparent effort to provide internet services to the country and surrounding regions.
At 8:03 a.m. Eastern Time (1303 UTC) on February 29, a Long March-3 B/G carrier rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced the success of the launch within an hour of liftoff. A statement from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation revealed that the previously undisclosed payload is the high-orbit satellite Internet-01 (satellite Hulianwan High-Orbit 01).
The aerospace closure notice shows that the Long March 3 B/G is scheduled to be launched from Xichang on February 29, indicating that the payload is likely to be sent to the geostationary transfer orbit. In Chinese, high orbit refers to the orbit above low earth orbit, not specifically high earth orbit (HEO).
Initial reports of the launch by Chinese state media did not provide details about the satellite. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation revealed only that the satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a major spacecraft manufacturer.
China already operates a series of ChinaSat (ChinaStar) geostationary communications satellites, with China Aerospace Corporation directly involved in the joint venture. China Satellite 26 is China’s first satellite capable of exceeding 100 gigabits per second (Gbps) and was launched in February last year.
The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported in November last year that the first high-orbit Internet satellite had been built and would be used to cover all of China and key areas along the Belt and Road Initiative.
“In the future, China Satcom will promote the construction of satellites with larger single-satellite capacity. It is expected that by the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the total capacity of high-throughput communication satellites will exceed 500Gbps.” Xinhua News Agency reported that it refers to the period from 2021 to 2025.
It is worth noting that China also plans to build two low-Earth orbit satellite Internet constellations. They are the National Grid Plan and the G60 Starlink constellation supported by Shanghai. These projects will require significant increases in launch speed and launch capabilities and could provide contracts for commercial launch service providers in China.
This launch is China’s 10th launch in 2024. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation revealed this week that China aims to conduct about 100 launches this year. CASC is targeting approximately 70 launches, with commercial launch entities planning a further approximately 30 launches.
The main missions include two manned missions and two cargo missions to the Tiangong Space Station. In the first half of the year, the Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite will be launched. The spacecraft will support Chang’e-6, the first mission to return samples from the far side of the moon.