The first batch of satellites in China's answer to Starlink - known as the Qianfan Constellation, sometimes also called G60 - was launched into orbit on Tuesday.

State-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, whose subsidiary China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) was the launch general contractor, deemed the launch of 18 satellites aboard a Long March-6 rocket "a complete success."

State-sponsored media called it a "milestone event" for the global satellite internet industry.

A total of 108 satellites are slated to go up this year, followed by 540 more in 2025, operated by another state-owned enterprise, Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST).

China's goal is to place 15,000 satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) by 2030, providing internet to users in remote areas and regions.

Rural areas are home to about 40 percent China's population. While internet access is widespread in the country, the World Bank found that 24 percent of citizens weren't internet users as of 2022.

So there are plenty of potential users for the satellite service in China, but the constellation is intended to provide network coverage beyond the Middle Kingdom.

Indeed the system reportedly could see early take-up from users from areas like Southeast Asia sooner than within China, as it faces challenges obtaining domestic operating licenses.

China's satellite broadband could therefore broaden choice beyond the usual players: Space X, with its Starlink and Amazon's planned Project Kuiper service. The latter recently pushed the first launches of its planned 3000-plus birds into late 2024.

Chinese outfits are working on two other satellite broadband constellations besides Qianfan. Those are China Star Network Company's 13,000-strong planned GW Constellation, and Hongqing Technology's 10,000-strong Honghu-3 Constellation.

Qianfan's differentiator is a service tuned to the needs of Internet of Things devices, and workloads like autonomous driving, according to The Global Times.

The proliferation of broadband satellites into LEO does prompt the question: where are they all going to fit?

The potential for collisions even saw Amazon led to fit thrusters to Project Kuiper prototypes - in part so the machines can change orbits and dodge debris.

Debris issues aren't just out in space though. Some Chinese launches have infamously dropped boosters near villages and used trajectories that cause concern among other nations that large objects could reach their shores and pose a threat to local populations. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/08/08/china_qianfan_launch/