On Monday, China’s heaviest Changzheng-5B rocket was launched from Wenchang Cosmodrome on Hainan Island. Soon the first stage of the rocket crashed into the ocean at the designated location, and the Yuanzheng-2 booster unit launched the first 10 satellites of the future Guowang megaconstellation, numbering up to 13,000, into an orbit at an altitude of 1,100 km. . The devices will be China’s Starlink equivalent.

The name Guowang translates as “national network”. However, there will be a group that will provide satellite internet coverage to the entire world. According to China’s application to the International Telecommunication Union, 6,496 satellites of the Guowang network are planned to be launched by 2032. Their total number will reach 12,992.

As you can see, the Guowang satellites will orbit at approximately twice the altitude of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites. But this is still better than placing conventional communications satellites in orbits as high as 36,000 meters. kilometer Signal delays on the Guowang network are temporally comparable to delays on the Starlink network.

The operator of the Guowang network is called China SatNet, a company established by the Chinese government in 2021. This company’s near-existence in the public sphere is quite surprising for a global satellite network operator. At the same time, China SatNet started construction of another constellation (SatNet) earlier this year. The satellites of the SatNet network will be located at an altitude of 20,000 m. km, and there will be fewer of them – no more than 36. Signal delays for communication with them will be higher, but the traffic volume should not suffer.

In parallel with these networks, China began to build another Internet satellite network: qianfan. Qianfan Group is the fruit of cooperation between the Shanghai government and the business community. The Qianfan Group, or “Thousand Sails” in Russian, will have several hundred satellites. However, there are also rumors that an eventual launch of 10,000 units will be made. devices

There’s one problem: China doesn’t yet have its own reusable rocket. The country’s heaviest rocket was used with a booster to launch a dozen Guowang satellites. About four years ago, the first stage of Changzhen-5B made a lot of noise in the information space: it is not known in advance where the Chinese space station will fall after the launch of lunar missions and modules. During yesterday’s launch, China took this factor into account and predetermined the place of fall of the first stage into the ocean. But this does not exempt the country from the need to have reusable rockets, otherwise the construction of mega-constellations will seriously affect its economy.

The Celestial Empire understands this and hopes to complete the construction of a reusable rocket soon. Moreover, there should be several such missiles. For example, orbital tests of at least five and possibly seven rockets are expected to be conducted in 2025. China has also developed a “thick” rocket to launch many satellites simultaneously – “Changzhen-12”. It is not yet reusable but is already capable of large-scale launch.

The increase in the number of satellite launches and launches into orbit clearly raises the issue of international cooperation in the field of information exchange on launches. Today, there are no standard protocols and communication lines for “registering” many new orbital objects. It is also a matter of security for all parties whose decision should not be delayed.