By 
August 8th, 2024
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The first batch of China’s new satellite group – SpaceSail – has been lofted into Earth orbit, an initial volley of spacecraft projected to evolve to a roughly 14,000 low-orbit broadband satellite system to cover most human inhabited areas.
Hurled into space by a modified Long March-6 carrier rocket on August 6, 18 first generation satellites are now circling Earth.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The SpaceSail Constellation — also known as G60, Qianfan Constellation or Thousand Sails Constellation — is being developed by Shanghai Yuanxin Satellite Technology Co., Ltd.
Image credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
An apparent SpaceX Starlink system look alike, the satellite constellation is to “provide global users with low-latency, high-speed and ultra-reliable satellite broadband internet services.”
Lu Ben, senior vice president of Yuanxin Satellites.
Lu Ben, senior vice president of Yuanxin Satellites, explains that the effort is a two stage program. A total of 1,296 SpaceSail satellites are planned for the first stage. This year the plan is to launch 108 satellites, Lu said.
Orbital alert
Meanwhile, an “Orbital Alert” has been posted by Slingshot Aerospace, noting that the Chinese launch has generated 50 pieces of space junk “that pose a significant hazard to LEO constellations below 800 km altitude.”
The group’s Slingshot Global Sensor Network (SGSN) data is monitoring this developing event. According to the group, they have detected a series of “bright, unexpected objects moving along the same orbital path as the rocket body and the G60 satellites it deployed.”
Image credit: Slingshot Aerospace
Space domain debris
“If even a fraction of the launches needed to field this Chinese mega-constellation generate as much debris as this first launch, the result would be a notable addition to the space debris population in LEO,” said Slingshot’s Audrey Schaffer, Vice President of Strategy and Policy.
“Events like this highlight the importance of adherence to existing space debris mitigation guidelines,” Schaffer added in a statement, “to reduce the creation of new space debris and underscore the need for robust space domain awareness capabilities to rapidly detect, track, and catalog newly-launched space objects so they can be screened for potential conjunctions.”
Go to this China Central Television (CCTV) video detailing the Spacesail system at:
Posted in Space News
