China conducts launch to test satellite internet capabilities China sent an undisclosed number of satellites into orbit Thursday to test satellite internet technologies.

HELSINKI — China sent an undisclosed number of satellites into orbit Thursday to test satellite internet technologies.

A Long March 2D rocket using a Yuanzheng-3 upper stage lifted off at 5:00 a.m. Eastern (1000 UTC) Nov. 23 from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., (CASC), only announced the nature of the payload when it declared the launch successful.

No details of the launch payloads were revealed. Xinhua tersely described the launch as carrying a single “experiment satellite for satellite internet technologies.”

A launch statement from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) however suggests that separate satellites were developed by SAST and the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites (IAMCAS) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) respectively.

  • @[email protected]English
    2•7 months ago

    If this starts launching en masse at the same time as Kuiper and continued Starlink… Hoo boy we’ve got some proliferation on our hands. I can’t blame China for wanting their own megaconstellation, though.