Elon Musk has a problem in the form of a direct competitor across the Pacific Ocean. And it is that China is preparing to send satellites to low Earth orbit to provide high-speed internet wirelessly.
GalaxySpace, a Chinese broadband company, has launched the first satellites of a constellation in low Earth orbit that will offer a wireless internet service, as SpaceX already offers with its Starlink product.
The satellites blasted off over the weekend aboard a Long March 2-C rocket that also carried an Earth-observing satellite into the sky. The objective? Offer 5G internet at speeds of 40 Gbit per second.
Last January, GalaxySpace gave its name to the test network, nicknamed “little spider’s web”, and promised that it would provide broadband in low orbit for more than 30 minutes at a time and that it would serve as the basis for the development of a constellation of 144 satellites.
The company said the price of creating such a satellite has been cut in half since the first one was built, and that has managed to keep the weight of each unit at 190 kg (the less they weigh, the easier to put into orbit).
The problem is that 144 satellites is not many, compared to SpaceX’s Starlink, which has 2,000 satellites already in space.or the fleet planned by Amazon that foresees 7,774 units, compared to the original 3,236.
GalaxySpace’s planned fleet is also low compared to its local rivals. The Hongyan and Hongyun projects have been launching test satellites since 2018. Hongyan plans 324 total satellites, while Hongyun will have 157.
Smaller constellation networks have been trending for a few years. Boeing has received approval for 147 that will provide services to the US, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islandsand OneWeb, backed by the UK government, has planned 648.
If Beijing sticks to a number as low as 144, the service won’t be useful beyond a small piece of ground in China. Little by little we are filling the sky with satellites, we will see if it ends well.