China launched a new satellite group for a commercial constellation from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site in southern China’s Hainan Province on Sunday.
A Long March-8A rocket, carrying the 15th group of the Qianfan (Spacesail) polar-orbit satellites, blasted off at 9:43 p.m. and has sent the group into the preset orbit.
China’s Qianfan constellation is a low-Earth orbit satellite internet project that aims to deploy satellites at altitudes ranging from 300 to 2,000 kilometers to create a network with global coverage.
These satellites will function like “aerial base stations” skimming the Earth’s surface. By forming a vast network of tens of thousands of satellites, they not only offer low signal latency, but can also eliminate connectivity blind spots in areas such as high mountains, deserts and deep oceans.
The launch marks the 656th flight mission of Long March carrier rocket series.
