Spacesail (Satellite Internet)

History

2025: Satellite Internet Launch

On January 23, 2025, China successfully launched a batch of Spacesail spacecraft, which is designed to provide satellite Internet access services. It is assumed that in the future the group will include up to 14 thousand devices.

The modified Long March-6 launch vehicle launched from the Taiyuan Cosmodrome in Shanxi province in North China. The payload was 18 Spacesail satellites. The Chinese Aerospace Scientific and Technical Corporation (CASC) announced that the launch was successful: spacecraft were launched into calculated orbits.

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Фото: Freepik

The formation of the Spacesail group began in August 2024. As of the end of January 2025, 72 spacecraft of this system are in orbit. It is expected that by the end of 2025 their number will increase to about 600. It is assumed that the platform will serve sectors such as transport, power, smart cities, smart agriculture, etc. In addition, satellite channels are planned to be used to provide communication and data transmission in natural disasters and in emergency situations.

In general, the Spacesail project aims to compete with SpaceX's Starlink system and other similar platforms focused on organizing broadband satellite Internet access. Shanghai Gesi Aerospace Technology, also known as Genesat, is responsible for the development and production of Spacesail devices. It was founded in 2022 by the Academy of Microsatellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAMCAS) and Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology. At the end of 2024, Genesat received funding of more than 1 billion yuan (about $138 million at the exchange rate as of January 24, 2025).^[1]

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