China is about to launch the first 18 satellites in its bid to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink, a constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) internet satellites, a Chinese government-owned news agency reports.
The satellites will launch from one of China’s major space mission facilities, namely, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern Shanxi province, according to Reuters. The launch was led by government-owned Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology company as part of its “Thousand Sails Constellation” project, which aims to create a global broadband network similar to that offered by SpaceX’s Starlink.
SpaceX currently has more than 6,200 satellites in LEO, a zone that generally lies up to around 1,200 miles (2,000 kilometers) above Earth’s surface. Starlink satellites typically orbit at a height of around 340 miles (550 km). At these relatively short distances, data can ping rapidly between the satellites and the planet; governments, individuals and businesses use the Starlink satellite constellation for broadband internet.
Older internet satellite services, meanwhile, rely on individual geostationary satellites that orbit at distances nearly 65 times higher above the planet, in “high Earth orbit.” Such high-flying satellites are expensive to launch and the data they transmit takes a while to reach Earth. As a result, older internet satellites are too slow to efficiently support video, streaming, online gaming and other applications that require high data rates, according to Starlink.
Over the past two years, China has become increasingly concerned about the potential threats to national security posed by Starlink’s constellation. The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has speculated that, were China to enter into a conflict with the U.S., Starlink’s constellation could be used to track hypersonic missiles; make it more efficient for drones and stealth fighter jets to communicate with the ground; and even destroy Chinese satellites, Live Science previously reported. Ukrainian forces have used Starlink to direct drones against Russian forces in the ongoing war there.
The Thousand Sails project isn’t the only way China is trying to protect itself from Starlink’s capabilities: Chinese scientists recently outlined a plan to mount lasers on submarines to destroy Starlink satellites.
The Chinese government has set a goal of launching 108 satellites for its new constellation this year. By 2030, it aims to have 15,000 satellites in orbit, Reuters reported.