China Aims to Challenge Musk's Starlink.

"China is increasing efforts to develop a satellite-powered internet network that can compete with Elon Musk's Starlink, which has quickly expanded around the world and whose military applications have been on display in Ukraine's defense against Russia.

Beijing's ambition to build a satellite-broadband network has faced hurdles including limited launch capacity and technological barriers.

But Starlink's ability to maintain high-speed internet connections to Ukraine despite the country's damaged telecommunications infrastructure underscored the need for similar fleets of satellites orbiting close to Earth -- known as constellations.

Chinese military researchers have called for faster deployment of the country's own constellations, citing concerns that key orbits risk becoming crowded.

New launch sites are now under construction in China, and the country's satellite industry has been expanding with the entrance of new state-owned as well as private-sector companies.

One private company, Beijing Tianbing Technology, is seeking to develop rockets to deploy up to 60 satellites in a single launch -- roughly the same as the payload of the partially reusable Falcon 9 rockets that Musk's SpaceX uses to supply Starlink.

Last month, Tianbing took a significant step toward building reusable vehicles when it sent a liquid-fuel rocket into orbit for the first time. Falcon 9's lower launch costs and large payload capacity have been critical to Starlink's rapid growth.

It is "entirely possible that in two years' time China's launch payload volume can double," said Blaine Curcio, founder of Orbital Gateway Consulting, a Hong Kong-based firm focused on China's space sector.

SpaceX has taken steps to limit Starlink's use for direct military operations, such as to guide drone strikes. Still, the Ukrainian military continued to use Starlink for other communications, and the service has provided connections for nonmilitary agencies in the country as well.

In addition to governments, more private-sector companies plan constellations, including Amazon.com and Rivada Space Networks, based in Germany. OneWeb, a London-based satellite operator partly owned by the U.K. government, recently completed its constellation.

Satellite broadband became a national priority for China in April 2020, when the country's top economic-planning agency included it on a wish list of "new infrastructure" as part of Beijing's push to be self-sufficient in key technologies. Later that year, the International Telecommunication Union, a United Nations agency that registers satellite fleets, received China's filings for two constellations totaling at least 7,808 satellites.

It took SpaceX about four years from launching the first batch of satellites to power Starlink to having around 4,000 in orbit now. The company conducted more than 30 Starlink flights last year, and its executives have said they plan to pick up the pace in 2023. On Friday, SpaceX sent 22 satellites into orbit using a Falcon 9 rocket, the 17th Starlink-related launch this year.

In 2022, China launched 182 satellites, less than one-tenth of those deployed from the U.S., according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist who tracks global space flight.

"China wants to build Starlink too," SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said earlier this month at an event sponsored by the McCain Institute. "One thing China doesn't have -- they don't have reusable rockets. I believe they will get there pretty quickly," she said.

SpaceX didn't respond to requests for comment about competition from China.

Developments in China's space industry accelerated after Beijing opened it up to the private sector in 2014. Though state-owned companies still dominate the sector, Orbital Gateway's Curcio says there are now around two dozen commercial launch companies in the country.

The country already has more than 700 operational satellites in orbit, about half of which are deployed by the military to track U.S. forces worldwide, Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the Space Force, said at a congressional hearing in March. More than 30 satellites make up Beidou, China's alternative to the U.S.-run Global Positioning System." [1]

1. China Aims to Challenge Musk's Starlink. Leong, Clarence;
Maidenberg, Micah. 
Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y. [New York, N.Y]. 22 May 2023: B.1.