Media Focus: China Launches the Eighth Batch of National Grid Satellites!
China launches only eight to ten satellites each time, seemingly each satellite is quite large.
On August 13, the U.S. publication "Space News" quoted an article from Chinese media.
China is accelerating the construction of its national satellite internet mega-constellation.
A Long March 5B rocket was launched early Wednesday (August 13) from the Wenchang Space Launch Site on Hainan Island in China, carrying a batch of satellites for China's broadband network.
This mission successfully reached low Earth orbit (LEO).
The National Grid, operated by the state-owned China Satellite Network Group, was established in 2021.
If everything goes according to plan, this constellation will eventually consist of approximately 13,000 satellites.
The National Grid is still far from this goal.
U.S. media speculate that China launches only eight to ten satellites per mission, seemingly because each satellite is quite large.
For comparison, SpaceX launches 24 to 28 satellites per mission to assemble its Starlink broadband mega-constellation, which currently consists of nearly 8,100 operational spacecraft in orbit.
However, China is accelerating the pace of the National Grid: The launch on Wednesday was the fourth launch of the project within less than three weeks.
U.S. media pointed out: The National Grid is not the only Chinese broadband constellation under planning. Another one named "Qianfan" began construction last year, similar to the National Grid, and is expected to be of similar scale.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1840379258244096/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.