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All quiet on the Eastern front…

While it is difficult to get good information on a regular basis from the Chinese space sector, some recent headlines showed that the it is still progressing quickly.

Geely Space, a subsidiary of car manufacturer Geely, launched 11 more satellites in early february 2024. This brings its constellation to 20 satellites and it is expected to reach 72 by 2025. Dedicated to the automotive sector, this constellation will provide high accuracy positioning in the cm-level (LEO-PNT), communications and even EO with a resolution better than 5m.

On another note, while the official Chinese LEO broadband project, Guowang (12000 satellites planned) seems on a slow pace these days, another project called G60 starlink sudddenly accelerated. Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, the company behind G60, just raised almost $1B, the largest private round ever in the Chinese space sector. The constellation will ultimately include more than 12000 satellites with an initial capacity of 100 satellites in 2024 and a mid term objective of 1296 satellites.

More information in this Dongfanghour video, the best source of information on the Chinese space sector.

A look at 2024 launches as of mid february: China launched 8 times (USA 16), representing 25% of all launches. Europe is far behing with … 0 launch. While nothing seems to be able to catch up on SpaceX/Starlink, the Chinese are trying hard!

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