The key facts
- On November 9, the Long March-12 rocket placed the 29th batch of SatNet satellites into orbit; the launch took place from the Wenchang spaceport on Hainan
- The mission was declared a complete success, and the spacecraft reached the designated orbit
- On November 3, China had already launched 18 Qianfan satellites from the Jiuquan spaceport aboard a Kinetica-2 rocket
A new launch under the national satellite internet program
On November 9, China placed a new batch of satellites of its national space internet system SatNet into low Earth orbit. The Long March-12 carrier rocket lifted off at 04:24 Beijing time (23:24 MSK on November 8) from the commercial Wenchang spaceport on Hainan Island. The launch was reported by the Xinhua news agency; as relayed by Life.ru: the satellites reached the designated orbit, and the mission was declared a complete success. The deployed spacecraft belong to the 29th batch of China's low-orbit satellite system.
Why SatNet is needed and what happened earlier
The new satellites will become part of the national SatNet network, designed to provide broadband internet access. The project envisions global coverage, including areas where building ground-based telecommunications infrastructure is difficult. Notably, this is already China's second satellite internet launch in a single week: on November 3, the Kinetica-2 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan spaceport carrying another 18 spacecraft of the Qianfan system, which are expected to expand the capabilities of the low-orbit Spacesail Constellation communications network. Thus, the deployment pace — two launches in six days — confirms that the program is in an active phase, although the sources do not report either the total number of satellites already deployed or the timeline for achieving full coverage.
