Arran Hope
At 14:42 on August 6, a Long March 6 (LM-6) carrier rocket took off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in Xinzhou, Shanxi Province (Xinhua, August 7). The rocket carried 18 satellites—the first official batch of the Qianfan (千帆) constellation—into orbit. Qianfan, formerly known as “G60,” constitutes an initial response by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to Starlink, the private satellite internet constellation operated as a subsidiary of Elon Musk’s commercial space venture SpaceX.
The company behind the launch, Yuanxin Satellite (垣信卫星)—also known as Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology Ltd (SSST)—is not a state-owned enterprise (SOE). This is surprising, as SOEs usually take precedence in the unveiling of new, strategic technologies. Analysts therefore have described the August development as “the most significant commercial launch in Chinese space industry history” (The China Space Monitor, August 31). A confluence of factors led to SSST winning the race to launch a constellation of internet satellites in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO). These include problems in the state-owned constellation sector coupled with an explosion of activity in the burgeoning commercial sector. The initial trigger for PRC efforts in this area has been the launch and dramatic expansion of Starlink since 2019. The PRC’s space sector is still centrally controlled, but the emergence of a more dynamic commercial sector indicates that Beijing is learning how to successfully combine government direction with market forces (China Brief, November 20, 2023).
No comments:
Post a Comment