China on Thursday launched the first of a new series of “high orbit” internet satellites, ostensibly to provide internet services to China and nearby areas. The Long March 3B/G rocket was launched at 8:03 a.m. eastern time (13:03 UTC) on February 29 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced the successful launch within an hour of liftoff. CASC’s statement revealed that the previously undisclosed payload was the Internet-01 high orbit satellite (Weixing Hulianwan Gaogui-01).

AIRspace shutdown reports revealed that Long March 3B/G was scheduled to launch from Xichang on February 29; This suggests that the payload was likely directed into geosynchronous orbit. In Chinese, high orbit refers to orbits above low Earth orbit, not specifically high Earth orbit (HEO).

Chinese state media’s initial reports about the launch did not include details of the satellite. CASC found only that the satellite was developed by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a major spacecraft manufacturer.

China already operates the ChinaSat (Zhongxing) series of geostationary communications satellites, and CASC is directly involved in this joint venture. ChinaSat-26, China’s first satellite providing speeds over 100 gigabits per second (Gbps), was launched last February.

In November, state media Xinhua reported that the first high-orbit Internet satellite had been completed and would be used to provide coverage in key regions along China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

“In the future, China Satcom will promote the construction of satellites with larger capacity per satellite. “By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan, the total capacity of high-bandwidth communication satellites is expected to exceed 500 Gbps.”

In particular, China also has plans to install two Internet satellite arrays in low Earth orbit. This is a national Guowang program and G60 Starlink constellation supported by Shanghai. These projects will require significant increases in launch speed and launch power and could secure contracts for Chinese commercial launch service providers.

This launch was China’s 10th launch in 2024. CASC announced this week that China plans to conduct nearly 100 launches this year. CASC is planning about 70 launches, and commercial organizations are planning about 30 more. The main missions include two crewed missions and two cargo missions to the Tiangong space station. The Queqiao-2 lunar relay satellite will be launched in the first half of the year. This spacecraft will support Chang’e-6, the first mission to send samples to the far side of the Moon.