China Challenges Elon Musk's SpaceX Starlink With Its Own Internet Satellites, Plans To Deploy 648 Satellites

China has launched its own version of internet satellites, Thousand Sails, to compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX‘s Starlink.

What Happened: China’s Thousand Sails, a constellation of over 15,000 low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, aims to provide global internet coverage, CNBC reported on Tuesday.

The first batch of 18 satellites was successfully launched on Tuesday using a Long March 6A carrier rocket from the Taiyuan launch center in the northern Shanxi Province of China.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences confirmed the mission’s success. By 2025, China plans to deploy 648 satellites in the first phase of the constellation’s build-out to establish a global internet network, according to state media CCTV.

Thousand Sails is China’s latest endeavor in the space sector, following the completion of the BeiDou network in 2020, a global navigation system that rivals the U.S. government-owned Global Positioning System (GPS).

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Why It Matters: China’s space ambitions have been a subject of global interest. The country’s space program has made significant strides, including the launch of an ambitious mission to the far side of the moon in April. This mission, named Chang'e-6, is part of a series of missions that could potentially lead to a Chinese crewed landing and the construction of a base at the moon's south pole.

China’s space program has also raised concerns about potential military applications. In July, experts speculated that China’s uncrewed reusable spacecraft may be testing technologies for manipulating or retrieving satellites, with potential military applications.

China’s space ambitions are also seen in the context of the ongoing technology battle between China and the U.S. In May, U.S. authorities privately alerted telecom companies about the potential susceptibility of undersea internet cables in the Pacific Ocean to meddling by Chinese repair ships, raising concerns about possible espionage threats.

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Image Via Shutterstock

This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote