China launched the low-orbit Group 28 satellites of its satellite internet constellation on a Long March 8A rocket from the Hainan Commercial Spacecraft Launch Site on the morning of October 25, and Xinhua said they reached their planned orbit.
According to Xinhua, the launch took place at 10:03 Beijing time on October 25 from the Hainan Commercial Spacecraft Launch Site, using a Long March 8A carrier rocket. The satellites entered the planned orbit smoothly and the launch was declared a success. Chinese outlets such as China Daily's Chinese site carried the same account.
광고 문의 · 300×250The launch is part of China's effort to build a low-orbit satellite internet constellation. Earlier this month, on October 10, Xinhua reported that a Long March 12 launched Group 27 from the same site. That makes two launches in about two weeks, though Xinhua's report did not confirm how many satellites this group carried or their specifications.
The launch site and the rockets
The Hainan Commercial Spacecraft Launch Site is a facility operated for commercial launch demand, where China has been fielding newer-generation Long March rockets one after another. The Long March 8A used now differs from the Long March 12 used on October 10, showing different rockets being used in parallel for the same constellation. How the two types will share future launches has not been officially announced.
Low-orbit satellite internet aims to deliver connectivity to places ground networks struggle to reach, and projects such as SpaceX's Starlink already operate at large scale. Beijing's position is that its constellation is self-reliant communications infrastructure, while some in the international community worry about space-resource competition and orbital crowding. With assessments diverging, the actual service start date and scale remain to be seen from official announcements.