HELSINKI — The primary satellite for a second planned Chinese low Earth orbit communications megaconstellation has been produced in latest facilities in Shanghai.
A brand new generation flat-panel satellite rolled off the assembly on the G60 digital satellite production factory in Shanghai’s Songjiang District Tuesday, Dec. 27, based on Chinese press reports.
The satellite is the primary for the G60 Starlink low Earth orbit communications megaconstellation. An initial 108 satellites of a complete of around 12,000 G60 Starlink satellites are to be launched across 2024.
The facilities are managed by Shanghai Gesi Aerospace Technology (Genesat), a state-owned company established in 2022 by the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Innovation Academy for Microsatellites (IAMCAS) and Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology.
Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology was the Chinese side of the previous KLEO Connect constellation project. That Chinese-European three way partnership led to acrimony and ongoing lawsuits. Genesat recently raised funds through investment vehicles under each the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Shanghai government.
Documentation filed with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in April likely pertaining to the G60 Starlink project sets out plans for 36 polar orbital planes, each stuffed with 36 satellites, totaling 1,296 spacecraft. The satellites would operate within the Ku, Q and V bands.
The satellites are described as low-cost, high-throughput, highly-reliable, low-latency and modularized. The general system, like that of SpaceX’s Starlink and its competitors, goals to supply broadband access services to users all over the world.
Shanghai space ecosystem
The satellite manufacturing center entered service this 12 months. It’s to be capable of manufacturing 300 satellites per 12 months. It was also stated to lower the associated fee of a single satellite by 35 percent, though without specifying a reference point.
The project is linked to the broader Yangtze River Delta G60 Science and Technology Innovation Corridor. The project also falls under the umbrella of Shanghai government plans announced in October to foster a industrial space ecosystem throughout the city by 2025. The initiative goals to foster an end-to-end ecosystem encompassing satellites, launch vehicles, related applications and infrastructure.
Targets include constructing capability for an annual output of fifty industrial rockets and 600 industrial satellites. This means further either extant or future production capability together with the Genesat facilities.
These latest facilities also feed right into a surge in Chinese small satellite manufacturing capability lately. State-owned entities under each CASC and CASIC have established latest centers, together with industrial firms comparable to GalaxySpace. IAMCAS can be lively on this area. Added to that is the emergence of ASPACE in Hong Kong this 12 months.
A second Chinese megaconstellation
G60 Starlink is the second low Earth orbit communications megaconstellation, following the establishment of the China Satellite Network Group in 2021 to run the national 13,000 satellite Guowang (SatNet) project.
Nonetheless a variety of experimental satellite web spacecraft, apparently for Guowang, have been launched across 2023. It’s unclear which, if any, megaconstellation will take primacy based on Chinese national policy.
Meanwhile China has been easy methods to get large batches of satellites into orbit, particularly by way of getting the vast numbers of satellites into orbit to fulfill deadlines set by the ITU to ensure use of associated frequencies.
Possibilities include using the Long March 5B rocket with a Yuanzheng-2 upper stage. The expendable Long March 8, optimized for mass production, could also help get Guowang or other constellations flying.
China can be constructing latest industrial launch pads on Hainan island to alleviate a bottleneck in access to launch. These will start becoming operational in 2024.
Global implications
The emergence of competing communications megaconstellations brings potential for enhanced global web connectivity, particularly in distant and underserved areas. This development could bring quite a few advantages by way of economic activity and global health. It could even have geopolitical implications related to national security, surveillance, and technological dominance.
There are also unresolved issues regarding space traffic management. These include thorny problems with international coordination, setting rules for collision avoidance and deorbiting satellites. The proliferation of projects, launches and satellites in LEO also heightens problems with orbital space debris.