Wenchang, 25 October. China launched a Long March 8A rocket from the commercial spaceport on Hainan Island and placed the 28th group of low-orbit internet satellites into their designated orbit, Xinhua reported.
The rocket lifted off at 10:03 Beijing time (07:03 Astana time). The satellites were developed by the China Academy of Space Technology. The launch was the 674th flight of the Long March family. The report did not say how many spacecraft the group contained: the number denotes a batch in the deployment sequence, not the number of satellites. The Philippine Space Agency had published projected debris zones in advance: one in the Philippines' exclusive economic zone and the other in its archipelagic waters.
The Long March 8A is designed to launch constellation satellites into medium and low Earth orbits and can carry a 5.2-metre fairing. Launches from the Hainan commercial spaceport have been under way since late 2024; China launched the previous, 27th group of internet satellites on 9 October on a Long March 12.
What it means: China continues to deploy its own satellite internet constellation: 16 days passed between the launches of the 27th and 28th groups. The authorities do not publicly give the number of satellites in each group.
Who benefits: China's space industry and the state gain their own global satellite communications system, an alternative to the US Starlink.
Background: China's Guowang (SatNet) low-orbit constellation, according to open launch data, is replenished in batches usually of nine satellites; the commercial Qianfan constellation is being developed in parallel. Guowang ("national network" in Chinese) is conceived as an answer to the US Starlink: more than 13,000 satellites are planned, about 6,000 at 500–600 km and about 7,000 at around 1,145 km; by 2027 the operator expects to have about 400 in orbit.
