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China begins space-based broadband projectChina plans to launch 156 low Earth orbit satellites by 2025
(Global Times) 10:50, September 01, 2017
CGTN photo
China plans to launch 156 small satellites by 2025 to provide Internet services in low signal areas and places with adverse natural environment, according to an announcement by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).
Due to environmental conditions of deserts, mountains and seas, half of the world's population has no access to the Internet, and the information deficiency hampers local development, according to a press release CASIC sent to the Global Times Thursday.
It will be China's first broadband Internet access system with small satellites hovering in low orbit, which will also help meet the needs of commercial space development, it said.
The project, named Hongyun, plans to send the first satellite by 2018, and launch four more to gain preliminary experience by 2020. By the end of the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), CASIC plans to have all of the 156 satellites in operation.
"The satellites will also facilitate Internet access and communication for airplanes and ocean-going ships," Wang Yanan, chief editor of the Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told reporters.
The Hongyun Project, which focuses on communication, remote sensing and navigation, can offer communication and Internet services for China and less-developed countries with reduced latency. Meanwhile, the project can also benefit emergency communication, sensor data collection and remote control of unmanned equipment, CASIC said.
Currently, international maritime satellites are widely used for communications in mountainous areas and airplanes, but those satellites, 36,000 kilometers above the Earth, have time and signal delay as well as high costs for providing services, said Yang Yuguang, a research fellow with the CASIC, according to the WeChat account of the company.
The small satellites sent by the Hongyun Project will hover in low orbits only hundreds of kilometers to 1,000 kilometers above the Earth, and thus could improve the Internet access, Yang said.
However, the low orbit satellites may face challenges in power supply, as they need more energy to reduce the influence of air-resistance compared to high orbit satellites. Experiments are needed to determine whether solar energy alone is enough, Wang said.
Hongyun Project was part of the space projects announced by CASIC at the Third China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei Province, on Wednesday.
CASIC also announced at the forum that the rocket launch project called Kuaizhou 11, a solid-fuel carrier rocket. The rocket will mainly be responsible for sending mini satellites and sun-synchronous orbit small satellites.
The Kuaizhou 11 will have its maiden launch carrying six satellites in early 2018, reported China Central Television (CCTV).
By Zhao Lei at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center | chinadaily.com.cn | Updated: 2018-12-22 08:18
China launched a communications satellite on Saturday, marking the start of construction of a vast space-based communications network capable of covering the entire world with broadband internet service.
The first satellite in the Hongyun project, which was planned by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC) to be the country's first low-orbit broadband communications satellite constellation, was launched on Saturday at 7:51 am on a Long March 11 carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China.
The spacecraft is tasked with verifying basic designs of Hongyun satellite and demonstrating low-orbit broadband communications technologies.
Its main payloads are Ka-band transponders and transmission antennae. It also carries several scientific and technical devices to explore Hongyun system's applications in scientific research, environmental survey as well as air and sea transportation, CASIC said in a statement.
Weighing 247 kilograms, the satellite works in a sun-synchronous orbit about 1,100kilometers above earth. It is powered by solar arrays and has a design life of one year, but is expected to operate longer, according to Xiang Kaiheng, Hongyun's chief designer at CASIC Space Engineering Development Co Ltd in Beijing, which is responsible for developing and running the Hongyun constellation.
After a yearlong in-orbit technological demonstration by the satellite, CASIC plans to launch four mass-production Hongyun satellites before the end of 2020 to form a small network for Hongyun's trial run, he said.
The Hongyun project, started by CASIC in September 2016, aims to build a space-based communications network to provide broadband internet connectivity to users around the world, especially those in underserved regions.
CASIC currently intends to place more than 150 Hongyun satellites on orbits about 1,000 kilometers above the ground around 2023, while the constellation is likely to be further expanded in response to market demands, the designer said.
Globally, the concept of running a low-cost, high-performance satellite network to provide space-based communications and internet services has become popular among industry players.
The United States' SpaceX launched two experimental satellites last month to test technologies for its Starlink project, in which tech tycoon Elon Musk proposes to put a total of nearly 12,000 satellites into orbit by the mid-2020s.
Another US firm, OneWeb, plans to launch a satellite constellation of 648 low-Earth orbit microsatellites by the end of 2019, though few developments have been reported.
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