China launched its initial set of internet satellites on Tuesday, intending to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation.
A system of more than 15,000 low-Earth orbit satellites known as “Thousand Sails” is intended to provide worldwide internet connectivity.
Chinese Academy of Sciences declared the mission a full success. The first eighteen satellites were sent into space by a Long March 6A carrier rocket, which took off from the Taiyuan launch centre in the northern Shanxi region for China.
As to the state broadcaster CCTV, China plans to establish a global internet network by 2025 by deploying 648 satellites in the first phase of the constellation’s expansion.
Source (CNBC)
