Tag: China

China launches two “test satellites”

7:46 pm

China earlier today successfully launched two test satellites for “experimental verification of Earth observation technologies, its Long March 2D rocket lifting off from its Xichang space port in southwest China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages, using very toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed inside China. The two satellites are part of the Shiyan family of satellites that have done rendezvous and proximity operations as well as surveillance of other satellites in orbit.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

126 SpaceX
58 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 126 to 98.

Leave a comment

China completes two launches

2:01 pm

Since yesterday China successfully completed two launches from two of its interior spaceports.

First, it successfully launched what its state-run press described as a satellite that will “primarily support monitoring and research activities in weather forecasting, atmospheric chemistry and climate change”, its Long March 4C rocket lifting off yesterday from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

Then today China’s Long March 6A lifted off from its Taiyuan spaceport in north China, placing in orbit the eleventh set of satellites in the Guowang internet constellation, eventually aiming to be 13,000 satellites strong. China’s state-run press did not specify the exact number of satellites. Based on previous launches using the Long March 6A, the number was likely five, bringing the number of this constellation’s satellites now in orbit to 87.

No word on where the the lower stages of both rockets crashed inside China. This is even more critical with the Long March 4C, since it uses very toxic hypergolic fuels that can dissolve your skin if it touches you.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

125 SpaceX
57 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 125 to 97.

Leave a comment

Chinese satellite photographs commercial Maxar satellite

10:41 am

One Jilin-1 image of Maxar satellite
Click for original. More images here.

In what appears to be a tit-for-tat competition, a Chinese reconnaissance satellite, dubbed Jilin-1, has now taken photographs of a commercial Earth imaging satellite owned by Maxar, that the company had previously used to photograph other Chinese satellites.

Chinese commercial remote sensing constellation operator Changguang Satellite Technology (CGST), a spinoff from an arm of the state-owned Chinese Academy of Sciences, published images Sept. 13 of a Maxar Worldview Legion 2 satellite.

The images were taken by CGST’s Jilin-1 remote sensing constellation satellites across a few hours on Sept. 8, from ranges between 40-55 kilometers, showing details of the spacecraft. While part of an expanding Earth observation constellation, Jilin-1 satellites have apparently had their operations adjusted to include Non-Earth Imaging (NEI).

Maxar had earlier published high resolution images of China’s Shijan-26 satellite, being used to test remote sensing and surveillance technologies.

None of this is particular new, though for China the technology is the most advanced it has ever had. Nations have been launching high resolution surveillance satellites since the 1960s. Nor is there anything anyone can do about it. Nations will always do this. If anything, having this ability to observe each other closely will likely reduce tensions and misunderstandings.

7 comments

Two launches by China and SpaceX

9:10 am

Both China and SpaceX completed launches today. First, China launched another 11 satellites for its Geely internet-of-things constellation, its Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifting off from a ocean platform off the nation’s eastern coast.

This was the sixth launch for this constellation, bringing the number of satellites in orbit to 64, out of a planned 240. The constellation is designed to provide positioning and communications for trucking and other ground-based businesses.

Next, SpaceX successfully placed three government science satellites into orbit (two for NASA and one for NOAA), its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The first stage completed its second flight, landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic. The two fairings both completed their first flight.

The two NASA satellites were the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) to study the Sun’s heliosphere at the edge of the solar system and the Carruthers Geocorona Observatory to study the exosphere, the outermost layer of the atmosphere. The NOAA probe, Space Weather Follow On – Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1), will observe the Sun from one million miles from Earth, providing advance knowledge of strong solar flares and eruptions so that utility companies can shield the electric grid appropriately.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

123 SpaceX
55 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 123 to 94.

Leave a comment

China launches “test satellite for satellite internet technology”

9:25 am

China today successfully launched a satellite for testing “satellite internet technology”, its Long March 2C rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

Its state-run press provided no other information about the satellite. Nor did it provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages — which use toxic hypergolic fuels — crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

118 SpaceX
54 China
13 Russia
12 Rocket Lab

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 118 to 93.

Leave a comment

NASA bans Chinese citizens from its facilities or operations

9:09 am

Earlier this week NASA moved to block Chinese citizens with visas from having access to its facilities as well as its entire operations, citing security concerns.

“NASA has taken internal action pertaining to Chinese nationals, including restricting physical and cybersecurity access to our facilities, materials and network to ensure the security of our work,” NASA press secretary Bethany Stevens said on Wednesday. According to Bloomberg, Chinese nationals had previously been allowed to work as contractors or students contributing to research, although not as staff.

But on 5 September several individuals told the outlet they were suddenly locked out of IT systems and barred from in-person meetings. They spoke on condition of anonymity.

Though both the Chinese press and the leftist news outlet above (The Guardian) whine about this move, it makes great sense, and should have been done years ago. Though I am sure most of these Chinese citizens are not spies, China’s policy has been to consistently use such citizens for spying, and letting such people into NASA operations makes no sense.

Moreover, shouldn’t NASA be hiring Americans first and foremost?

9 comments

China launches 11 more satellites for its Geely satellite constellation

8:09 pm

Earlier today China successfully launched 11 more satellites for its Geely satellite constellation, its Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifting off from a launch platform off the eastern coast of China.

Video of the launch can be found here (Hat tip to BtB’s stringer Jay). This was the fifth launch for this constellation, bringing the number of satellites in orbit for this planned 240 satellite constellation to 52. The constellation is designed to provide positioning and communications for trucking and other ground-based businesses.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

114 SpaceX
52 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 114 to 89.

Leave a comment

Two more launches today

3:35 pm

As expected, SpaceX and China completed launches today.

First SpaceX launched another 24 Starlink satellites, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its 20th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacitic.

Next, China placed an unspecified “group” of “remote sensing” satellites into orbit, its Long March 6A rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in northeast China. No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

114 SpaceX
51 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 114 to 88.

One comment

China yesterday completed two launches

9:03 am

China yesterday successfully completed two launches using different rockets from two different spaceports in the country’s interior.

First, its Long March 3C rocket launched a classified technology test satellite, the rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China. No real information about the satellite was released, though its name, Shiyan, is part of a series of satellites that tests new designs for communications and remote sensing.

Next, the pseudo-company Galactic Energy placed three satellites into orbit, its solid-fueled Ceres-1 rocket lifting off from the Jiuquan spaeport in northwest China. Once again, little information was released about the satellites’ purpose.

With each launch, China’s state-run press also provided no information about where the lowers stages of both rockets landed inside China. This is especially of concern for the Long March 3C, which uses very toxic hypergolic fuels that can dissolve the skin.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

113 SpaceX
50 China
12 Rocket Lab
11 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 113 to 87.

These numbers should change again by the end of today, with both SpaceX and China planning an additional launch each.

2 comments

China launches seven classified satellites

8:45 am

China today successfully placed seven satellites into orbit, its Kinetica-1 (or Lijian-1) rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China. Its state-run press provided almost no information about the launch, except for trumpeting the fact that it lifted off from the launchpad at Jiuquan that China has built for its pseudo-commercial companies. The rocket itself however is built by pseudo-company CAS Space, which is simply a division created by the government-run Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

101 SpaceX
47 China
11 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 101 to 80.

Leave a comment

China completes two launches today

2:10 pm

China today completed two launches using two different rockets from two different spaceports.

First, its Long March 4C rocket lifted off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China, placing what its state-run press described as a satellite designed to do “space environment exploration and related technology tests,” No other information was released.

Next, its Long March 6A rocket lifted off from its Taiyuan spaceport in north China, placing the ninth set of Guowang satellites into orbit for a planned 13,000 constellation designed to compete with Starlink and Kuiper. This launch placed five satellites into orbit, bringing the total launched so far to 72.

In both cases, no word was released on where the rockets’ lower stages crashed inside China. This is especially significant for the Long March 4C rocket, which uses very toxic hypergolic fuels and lifted off from a spaceport much more inland than the Long March 6A.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

100 SpaceX
46 China
11 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 100 to 79.

7 comments

Upper stage of Chinese rocket fails during launch

8:45 am

According to China’s state-run press, the Chinese pseudo-company Landspace experienced a failure yesterday during the launch of its Zhuque-2E rocket from the Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

A later update by the pseudo-company said the failure involved the rocket’s second stage, though little other information was provided.

In 2023 the Zhuque-2 rocket was the first to reach orbit using methane fuel, during the rocket’s second launch attempt. Overall it has launched six times, with two failures, on its first launch and yesterday.

Landspace hopes to launch its Zhuque-3 upgrade next year, designed to eventually land the first stage and reuse it. This failure could very well delay that plan.

Leave a comment

China completes eighth launch of its Guowang internet satellite constellation

9:53 am

China yesterday successfully placed 10 more Guowang satellites into orbit, its Long March 5b rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport.

The Guowang constellation, also called Satnet, will eventually have 13,000 satellites in orbit, providing services comparable to Starlink and Kuiper. At present it has completed eight launches since December 2024, placing 67 satellites into orbit.

Because the Long March 5B, China’s most powerful rocket at present, used a new more powerful upper stage, its core stage did not reach orbit, and thus fell harmlessly into the ocean soon after launch.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

98 SpaceX (with another Starlink launch scheduled for later today)
44 China
11 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 98 to 77.

Leave a comment

China launches another 11 satellites for one of its mega-constellations

12:42 am

China's spaceports

China today successfully placed another 11 satellites into orbit for one of its internet satellite constellations designed to compete with Starlink, its Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifting off from a launch platform off the eastern coast of China.

This was the fourth launch of satellites for Geely constellation. Though the rocket’s lower stages dropped into the South China Sea as well as the Pacific, doing no harm to habitable areas (as China routinely does when it launches from its interior spaceports), earlier this week the president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., complained about China’s habit of not giving its neighbors sufficient warning prior to its coastal launches.

Marcos issued the statement after China launched its Long March 12 rocket on Monday [from its coastal Wenchang spaceport], which left debris within Philippine maritime territory. During an interview with the Philippine media delegation covering his state visit to India, the President said this was not the first time suspected Chinese rocket debris had ended up in Philippine waters.

“Well, it’s not the first time that this has happened. And, actually, if you look at the incidents, they did not commit any violations. There have been no casualties,” Marcos said. “We just wish that perhaps they could warn us a little earlier so that we know the path of the rocket, where the path is, and if they will release stages, where they will fall,” he added.

All par for the course for China. It not only doesn’t really care if it crashes rocket stages on the heads of its own people, it cares even less about dropping stages on neighboring countries.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

97 SpaceX
43 China
11 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 97 to 74.

4 comments

China completes landing and take-off tests of its manned lunar lander

9:49 am

China's manned lunar lander during landing and take-off tests
Click for original image.

China announced today that it has successfully completed landing and take-off tests of its manned lunar lander.

That lander is shown to the right, its engines firing as its likely descends, held up by cables to simulate the lunar gravity. From the caption:

This file photo shows a manned lunar lander during a trial at a test site in Huailai County, north China’s Hebei Province. China on Thursday announced that it has successfully completed a comprehensive test for the landing and takeoff of its manned lunar lander at a test site in Huailai County, Hebei Province.

The test completed on Wednesday represents a key step in the development of China’s manned lunar exploration program, and it also marks the first time that China has carried out a test for extraterrestrial landing and takeoff of a manned spacecraft, said the China Manned Space Agency.

History buffs will immediately notice the similarity of this lander to the Lunar Module (LM) that the U.S. used during the Apollo missions. What is not clear is whether the lander will have a separate descent and ascent stage, as the LM did, and if so, whether these flight tests included separate operations of each.

3 comments

China launches Earth observation satellite for Pakistan

9:21 am

China today successfully launched an Earth observation satellite for Pakistan, its solid-fueled Kuaizhou-1A rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China.

94 SpaceX
41 China
10 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 94 to 71. It also has another Starlink launch scheduled this morning.

Leave a comment

India and China complete launches

10:45 am

Two more launches today. First, India’s space agency ISRO successfully placed a joint NASA-ISRO radar satellite into orbit, its GSLV rocket lifting off from its Sriharikota spaceport on the eastern coast of India.

This was India’s first fully successful launch in 2025. On the first launch in January, the GSLV rocket performed as planned, but the satellite’s own engines failed to put it into the right orbit. Then in May the third stage of its PSLV rocket failed during launch.

Next China placed the sixth group of nine satellites for one of its mega-constellations designed to compete with Starlink, its Long March 8A rocket lifting off from its Wenchang coastal spaceport.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

94 SpaceX
40 China
10 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 94 to 70.

Leave a comment

Chinese pseudo-company launches classified payload

8:55 am

The Chinese pseudo-company Ispace successfully placed a classified payload into orbit today, its solid-fueled Hyperbola-1 rocket lifting off from the Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

This was the first launch by Ispace since July 2024, following a launch failure. Not only did China’s state-run press say nothing about the payload, no information about where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China was provided.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

93 SpaceX
39 China
10 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 93 to 68.

One comment

Another two launches by SpaceX and China

10:01 am

There were two more launches last night and today. First, SpaceX put another 24 Starlink satellites into orbit, its Falcon 9 rocket lifting off from Vandenberg in California. The first stage completed its 19th flight, landing on a drone ship in the Pacific.

Next, China today successfully launched another five satellites in its planned Guiwang (“king”) internet constellation of 13,000 satellites, its Long March 6 rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in northern China. No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China.

This launch brought the total number of operational satellites in orbit for this constellation to 39, all launched since December 2024. At this pace it will take many years for China to complete this constellation, though it likely can begin selling the service in China with an incomplete constellation. Its international licence requires it to launch 10% by 2029 and 50% by 2032.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

93 SpaceX
38 China
10 Rocket Lab
9 Russia

SpaceX now leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 93 to 67.

One comment

One of China’s big satellite constellations appears in trouble

9:35 am

According to a report in China’s state-run press today, one of the giant satellite constellations China is building to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink constellation is in trouble, and will likely fail to meet its international licensing requirement to place more than six hundred satellites in orbit by the end of 2025.

Only 90 satellites have been launched into low Earth orbit for the Qianfan broadband network – also known as the Thousand Sails Constellation or G60 Starlink – well short of the project’s goal of 648 by the end of this year.

Under international regulations to prevent spectrum hoarding, satellite operators must deploy a certain proportion of their constellation within set times after securing orbits and radio frequencies.

Shanghai Yuanxin Satellite Technology, the company leading the project, plans to deploy more than 15,000 satellites by 2030 to deliver direct-to-phone internet services worldwide.

To meet its license requirement, it require a launch pace for the rest of ’25 of about 30 satellites per month, something that the article says is unlikely due to “a severe shortage of rockets” in China.

This story might also explain why China’s government yesterday ordered all its rocket pseudo-companies to speed up their test schedules, pushing to launch their new rockets for the first time this year instead of in 2026. The Xi government’s order appears to be trying to address this rocket shortage.

9 comments

China launches cargo ship to its Tiangong-3 space station

8:24 pm

China today successfully launched a new Tianzhou cargo ship to its Tiangong-3 space station, its Long March 7 rocket lifting off from its coastal Wenchang spaceport.

The freighter subsequently docked with the station about three hours later.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

86 SpaceX
37 China
10 Rocket Lab
8 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 86 to 64.

Leave a comment

China launches technology test satellite

10:27 am

China today successfully launched a technology test satellite, its Long March 4C rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China.

As is usual for China’s state-run press, little information about the satellite was released. The most information any article provided was this:

The satellite, designed and built by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai, will measure and survey space environmental elements and test new technologies.

Nor did that state-run press provide any information about where the rocket’s lower stages, using very toxic hypergolic fuels, crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

84 SpaceX
36 China
10 Rocket Lab
7 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 84 to 62.

4 comments

China releases images of Earth and Moon, taken by its Tianwen-2 asteroid probe

9:40 am

Tianwen-2 images of the Earth and the Moon
For original images go here and here.

According to a report today in China’s state-run press, its Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return spacecraft is operating normally, and has successfully taken pictures of both the Earth and the Moon to test its instrumentation.

Those images are to the right, cropped, reduced, and sharpened to post here.

The CNSA [China National Space Administration] said that the narrow-field-of-view navigation sensor equipped on the probe recently captured the images of Earth and the moon, demonstrating good functional performance.

The images released include a photograph of Earth obtained by Tianwen-2 when it was approximately 590,000 kilometers away from the planet, as well as a new photograph of the moon captured when it was about the same distance from the moon. After the images were transmitted back to the ground, they were processed and produced by scientific researchers.

The Tianwen-2 probe has currently been in orbit for over 33 days, at a distance from Earth exceeding 12 million kilometers, and it is in good working condition, the CNSA said.

The probe will take about a year to reach asteroid Kamo’oalewa, where it will fly in formation studying it for another year, during which time it will attempt to grab samples by two methods. One method is a copy of the touch-and-go technique used by OSIRIS-REx on Bennu. The second method, dubbed “anchor and attach,” is untried, and involves using four robot arms, each with their own drill.

3 comments

Chinese pseudo-company Landspace completes static fire test of 1st stage of its Zhuque-3 reusable rocket

10:12 am

The Chinese pseudo-company Landspace today successfully completed a static fire test of 1st stage of its Zhuque-3 reusable rocket, firing all nine engines for 45 seconds.

This lays the groundwork for the first launch attempt of this rocket.

The first Zhuque-3 orbital launch attempt was earlier slated for the third quarter of the year and would carry a prototype of the reusable Haolong cargo spacecraft, designed by the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute under the Aviation Industry Corporation (AVIC). The test is part of a program for low-cost cargo delivery to the Tiangong space station. Landspace did not provide a timeframe for the launch in its static fire test statement.

It appears increasingly that three different Chinese pseudo-companies are getting close to launching reusable rockets within the next year or so. In addition to Landspace, there is CAS-Space (the rocket division of a government agency) and Space Pioneer. In addition, there five other pseudo-companies doing similar rocket hop tests. All are working under the supervision of the government, which requires them to share data.

One comment

China launches communications satellite

9:20 am

China today successfully launched a communications satellite, its Long March 3B rocket lifting off from its Xichang spaceport in southwest China.

As is usual for its state-run press, no information was provided about the satellite or where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

76 SpaceX
35 China
8 Rocket Lab
7 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 76 to 57.

Leave a comment

Ground-based imagery now suggests China has completed a docking and undocking of two robotic servicing satellites

10:28 am

According to ground-based imagery by the commercial company S2A, China’s Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 robotic servicing satellites appear to have completed a docking and undocking on June 13 and June 14, 2025.

China’s Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 satellites had been moving toward each other in geosynchronous orbit, around 22,236 miles (35,786 kilometers) above the equator, Spacenews reported on June 6. And now the pair appear to have had a brief first encounter, according to observations from the ground.

Optical tracking by the space situational awareness firm s2a systems shows a close approach between the two on June 14, with the pair, at times, virtually unresolvable from the other. This suggests that Shijian-21 and Shijian-25 made at least a test-run close approach and may have even performed a docking and undocking test.

You can see video of the first apparent docking here.

Shijian-21 was launched in 2021, and was used to grab a defunct Chinese geosynchronous satellite and tug it to a graveyard orbit. Shijian-25 was launched in January 2025 to test robotic servicing of satellites. These maneuvers with Shijian-21 appear to be part of those tests.

2 comments

China launches science satellite to study Earth’s electromagnetic fields

9:34 am

China today successfully launched a science satellite built in partnership with Italy and designed to study the interaction of the Earth’s atmosphere with its electromagnetic fields, its Long March 2D rocket lifting off from its Jiuquan spaceport in northwest China.

No word on where the rocket’s lower stages crashed inside China. As for the satellite:

With a designed lifespan of six years, the satellite is equipped with nine payloads, including an electric field detector co-developed by China and Italy, as well as a high-energy particle detector developed by Italy. It will carry out quasi-real-time monitoring of global electromagnetic fields, electromagnetic waves, the ionosphere and the neutral atmosphere, detecting electromagnetic anomalies caused by geological and human activities, as well as monitoring thunderstorm and lightning activity, according to CNSA.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

74 SpaceX
34 China
8 Rocket Lab
6 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 74 to 55.

Leave a comment

Chinese robotic servicing satellite now approaching another Chinese servicing satellite

9:39 am

It now appears that one Chinese robotic servicing satellite, Shijian-25, is now approaching another Chinese servicing satellite, Shijian-21, and it is expected that the two will eventually dock in order to test refueling technology.

Shijian-25 was launched in January to test on-orbit refueling and mission extension technologies, while Shijian-21 was launched in October 2021.

Shijian-21 has already executed its primary mission, docking with the defunct Beidou-2 G2 navigation satellite and towing it into a graveyard orbit above GEO. It had been passively drifting westward in GEO for much of the last year, according to COMSPOC, suggesting it may have run out of fuel, but it recently initiated maneuvers taking it towards Shijian-25.

Shijian-21 has since parked at 127.5 degrees East. Now, Shijian-25 is drifting eastwards towards Shijian-21. The two satellites are in a phased orbit, meaning their key orbital elements—such as semi-major axis, eccentricity, inclination, right ascension of the ascending node and argument of perigee—are nearly identical, but remain separated by a distance along the same path. This minimizes fuel required for a future rendezvous. The pair are expected to meet June 11 at current rate of approach, though Shijian-25 will likely slow down as it closes in.

In other words, China used the older satellite to test docking and tug operations, and now plans to use the new satellite to refuel it for further operations.

Nor are these the only satellites that are maneuvering into the area. Two American military surveillance satellites have moved in, are flying in parallel, and are likely there to observe the Chinese operations.

One comment

China launches another set of satellites for one of its giant internet constellations

8:17 pm

China earlier today successfully launched the sixth set of satellites for the Thousand Sails internet constellation, its Long March 6A rocket lifting off from its Taiyuan spaceport in northern China.

Very little information appears available about this specific payload. No word also was released about where the rocket’s lower stages and four strap-on boosters crashed inside China.

The leaders in the 2025 launch race:

69 SpaceX
33 China
7 Rocket Lab
6 Russia

SpaceX still leads the rest of the world in successful launches, 69 to 53.

Leave a comment
1 2 3 … 44