China Joins Satellite Space Race: Chinese Company To Launch 5G Comms Satellite

The first low-Earth broadband satellite in the part of the spectrum that will be the next frontier of satellite communications, the high-frequency Q/V band, is set for launch by a Chinese company.

The Global Times reported Thursday that Chinese commercial aerospace company Galaxy Space plans to launch the low-Earth broadband 5G satellite at the end of the month.

Beijing Daily reported that the company announced at a global 5G conference in China that the 10Gbps satellite will be launched from a site in Jiuquan, China. 

The satellite will be able to cover an area of 300,000 square kilometers, or about 116,000 square miles — an area roughly the size of Italy.

The satellite, Yinhe-1, is seen as a technology test for a 5G constellation of satellites that would create far broader coverage of the Earth.

Eventually, Galaxy Space plans to launch at least 144 satellites to provide global 5G coverage.

Several satellite companies are seeking to create broader satellite coverage to bring connectivity, including the internet and other telecommunications, to more remote areas that are cut off from the global communications network.

Industry watchers say the satellite will narrow the communications tech gap between Chinese industry and American companies that have already deployed low-Earth communications satellites, including OneWeb and Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Related Links:

6 Key Takeaways From The Morgan Stanley Space Summit

One Web Pulls Ahead In The Internet Space Race