China unveiled 18 communications satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province on Tuesday afternoon.
Weighing a combined 4. 8 tonnes, the plate-shaped satellites, the first batch in the Qianfan network to be deployed into orbit, were carried via a Long March 6A rocket that lifted off at 2:42 p. m. and temporarily arrived at its predefined orbit.
Developed through Shanghai-based SpaceSail, the Qianfan network will provide secure, reliable and high-speed Internet facilities to users around the world. It is designed to include up to 10,000 satellites that will travel in low-altitude orbits before the end of 2030, according to the company. The area formula was formerly known as the G60 network.
The first 18 satellites were designed and built through the Microsatellite Innovation Academy of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, which has also been awarded contracts for 306 satellites in the Qianfan network.
Under the allocation plan, 648 satellites will be deployed by the end of next year to shape the first edition of the Qianfan network, which some observers have called China’s and SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.
Yang Yuguang, a senior area industry observer in Beijing and vice chairman of the Space Transportation Committee of the International Astronautical Federation, said Tuesday that with satellites traveling in high-altitude orbits, low-orbit satellites can respond more temporarily to users and cover more places. , especially those located in higher latitude regions, making them more suitable for spatial Internet networks.
However, building and operating a formula of giant satellites in low-Earth orbit is never easy, he said, explaining that it requires techniques to maintain the accuracy of the position of a giant satellite organization, as well as reusable carrier rockets that can promise affordable launches.
Public and private rocket brands in China have made any and all efforts to eventually expand reusable rockets to meet the growing demand from satellite companies, Yang said.
The Long March 6A rocket style evolved through the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology as a medium-sized launch vehicle. It is composed of a 50-meter liquid-propelled central thruster and four solid-fuel side thrusters. The central thruster has a diameter of 3. 35 meters and is propelled through two engines of 120 tons of thrust that burn liquid oxygen and kerosene. The rocket has a liftoff mass of 530 tons and is responsible for transporting satellites to various types of orbits, adding sunsynchronous and low orbits. and intermediate circular orbits.
Contact the writers at zhaolei@chinadaily. com. cn