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A Long March 12 launch vehicle has successfully delivered a batch of satellites for China’s satellite internet program into low Earth orbit, according to state contractor CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation). The launch took off from one of the country’s spaceports, though the announcement initially gave no further details such as the exact payload configuration.
The satellite internet program is China’s government-planned mega-constellation for broadband connectivity from orbit, comparable to commercial offerings such as SpaceX’s Starlink. It is operated by the state-owned China Satellite Network Group (China SatNet) and known under the designation GW. The new satellites expand the build-out of this low Earth orbit constellation, which is progressing in stages using launch vehicles of different classes.
The Long March 12 is a newer CASC rocket designed for flexible launches of medium payloads. It is among the vehicles fielded from the newly built commercial spaceport at Hainan and is suited to serial launches for constellation deployment. With each further batch, the planned build-out of the Chinese satellite internet moves another step closer, with deployment scheduled to proceed in several waves over the coming years.
CASC’s announcement did not specify how many satellites reached orbit on this flight or from which launch site the mission departed. Further details are likely to be released by the involved agencies in the coming days.