China finally gets into the LEO satellite race

A Long March rocket delivered an initial batch of Chinese-built low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites into orbit on Monday, finally marking China's entry into the mass constellation satellite race.

The rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in western China carrying 18 satellites for the Qianfan constellation, local media reported.

Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), the company behind Qianfan (also known as G60), aims to launch 108 satellites this year and provide global network coverage by 2027. It is targeting 15,000 craft in orbit by 2030.

While it may have got Beijing off the sidelines, Qianfan is a strictly Shanghai project. 

SSST, founded by the Shanghai government, only began construction of the Qianfan craft last year, quickly overtaking the national aerospace giants that have labored for years to build stackable satellites that can be carried into orbit.

In its first phase SSST plans to lift 1,296 satellites into orbit 1,000 km above Earth, which would enable them to provide broad coverage and basic connectivity, SSST senior VP Lu Ben told business daily yicai.com.

Below 500 km

In future phases it aims to reduce orbit height to below 500 km, capable of providing direct mobile phone connections and broadband and narrowband IoT, Lu said.

By comparison, Elon Musk's Starlink constellation has around 6,300 satellites in commercial operation at 500-600 km above Earth. Its SpaceX launch vehicle, which delivered another 23 into orbit last Sunday, can carry up to 100 satellites.

SSST completed first round financing of 6.7 billion yuan (US$939 million) earlier this year, the largest single financing round of any Chinese satellite startup.

The other Chinese projects playing catchup with Starlink are the GW Constellation, led by the China Satellite Network Group, which plans a 13,000-satellite constellation, and Shanghai Landspace Technology's Honghu-3 scheme, which envisages 10,000 satellites.

The rapid growth and success of Starlink, which now has around 3 million global users, has helped make the LEO satellites a major priority for China.

LEO comms satellites have featured in multiple government work plans over the past year and are seen as an enabler of the emerging 'low-altitude economy' of intelligent transport and logistics services and future industrial use cases.

Economic applications aside, ubiquitous global broadband has obvious military value as well. The Chinese PLA has described Starlink as a security threat and has accused the US of militarizing commercial satellite assets. 

However many LEO satellites China puts into orbit, they are bound to be drawn into the strategic contest with the US.