As part of the global momentum around mega-constellations, China first announced plans to establish such a system in 2020. This followed a worldwide trend where a growing number of countries expressed an interest in building their own satellite constellations and jumping into the market to establish sovereign systems in an attempt to gain more autonomy in an increasingly space-based geopolitical environment.
Three years on, there is very little public information about China’s mega-constellation. While the Chinese government has not officially introduced the project, some Chinese researchers and scientists have made references to its existence and development.
The GW mega-constellation rising
Currently, the project is merely known as GW, which is expected to have 12,992 satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO). The exact meaning of GW has not yet been revealed. Nonetheless, this likely represents the initials of GuoWang (国网), which refers to National Networks in Chinese. China Satellite Network Group, a state-owned enterprise newly established in Hebei, Xiongan in 2021, is reported to be responsible for building the constellation.
This huge network is comprised of two constellations: GW-A59 and GW-2, which contain 6,080 and 6,912 satellites, respectively. Two filings for coordination were submitted to the ITU in September 2020. The launch schedules for these satellites remain unknown. Based on the ITU’s rule about the seven-year timeframe to deploy all the satellites upon submission of the filings, it remains unclear if China is on pace to reach this goal. According to recent news, China might have started to launch test satellites for the constellation. Moreover, to boost the rocket industry over the next few years, an unprecedented rocket assembly plant is currently under construction in Hainan, a southern tropical island. A new rocket launch site is also being built in Hainan, which will become the first commercial launch site in the country. This facility is expected to conduct its first launch in Q2 2024.
By planning to launch 13,000 satellites, China aims to secure a place in the LEO where competition for resources is constantly increasing. Some researchers believe that the GW constellation is likely to be placed in orbits higher than commercial NGSO mega-constellations that have been announced to ensure the capability of conducting continuous and close surveillance.
G60 Starlink: the second mega-constellation
In addition to the GW, recent news revealed that another satellite network is being developed in Shanghai: G60, an LEO broadband multimedia constellation. A test satellite has been successfully launched. In the first phase, about 1,300 satellites are planned. In the future, the G60 constellation will comprise 12,000 satellites in total. By that time, the Tencent G60 Intelligence Centre shall be the world’s leading supercomputing centre, supporting China with future AI developments.
As of April this year, China only has 600 satellites in orbit. With these two mega-constellations under planning and construction simultaneously, doubts have been cast over whether China has the manufacturing and launching capacity to realise its ambitious goals in the near future.
Access Partnership is closely tracking updates on satellite developments in Asia and around the world. If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact Xiaoya Sun at [email protected] or Juliana Ramirez at [email protected].