China wants to send 13,000 new satellites into space

China’s goal is to provide high-speed internet connection to its people.

Projects of constellations from satellites in low orbit do not stop proliferating. In addition to Elon Musk’s Starlink project of about 42,000 satellites, the Amazon project with 3,000 star objects and projects of several other private actors (OneWeb, Lynk, SatRevolution, and Sphera), it is China’s turn to launch the competition to colonize space with satellites.

China’s goal is similar to that of other players – to provide high-speed internet connectivity to its citizens. The Middle Kingdom really wants to launch the “Guowang”, a national broadband network. That’s why he’s working on launching a massive constellation of 13,000 satellites – 12922 to be exact.

If China confirms the development of its project, unfortunately little is known about its agenda. It is difficult to know when the first satellites will be launched and put into operation, as well as the launch window for the Guowang network in China. At present, the country is focusing on building and operating satellites.

This is not the first time that China has announced its desire to create a giant constellation to provide high-speed connectivity to its residents. Already in 2018, the country launched two similar projects, Hongyan and Hongyun. The satellites of these two projects will be integrated into the new Chinese project. They will already undergo major modernization, in order to integrate them into the Guowang Project.

Ultimately, this massive constellation should provide coverage for the entire Asian continent. Since the other players focus on America, then Europe, China will be free to deploy its satellites in low orbit over the Asian continent, with all that this entails in terms of geopolitical influence.