HELSINKI — China launched the fourth batch of 18 satellites for the Thousand Sails megaconstellation early Thursday using a Long March 6A rocket.
The Long March 6A lifted off at 12:11 a.m. Eastern (0511 UTC) Jan. 23 from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in north China, carrying 18 Qianfan (Thousand Sails) Polar orbit group 6 satellites into orbit. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which produced the launcher, confirmed launch success in a post-launch statement.
THe 18 flat panel satellites are part of the Thousand Sails megaconstellation to provide low Earth orbit internet services. The project is led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST). The project is sometimes also referred to as Qianfan and G60 Starlink. The launch followed earlier Thousand Sails/Qianfan constellation satellite launches in August, October and December 2024.
There are now 72 Qianfan satellites in orbit. SSST, or Spacesail, plans to construct a constellation of 14,000 satellites, including having around 600 in orbit by the end of 2025. Spacesail has garnered substantial support, securing approximately $943 million in funding in early 2024. Genesat, a satellite manufacturing subsidiary of Spacesai, secured $137 million in funding in late December. The satellites launched today are thought to have been manufactured by the Shanghai Engineering Center for Microsatellites.
Of the three batches already in orbit, the first batch of 18 satellites have mostly raised their orbits from around 800 kilometers to around 1,060 kilometers in altitude, according to U.S. space tracking data. The second batch have so far performed little orbit raising, suggesting issues with the satellites. All satellites are in orbits inclined by 89 degrees.
CASC said it plans to launch more than 10 Long March 6A rockets this year. Last year it launched five; three of which were for Spacesail. Ten Long March 6A rockets have now been launched in total since its debut in 2022.
The Long March 6A, developed by SAST, is the first and so far only Chinese launcher to bundle a liquid propellant core stage with solid propellant side boosters. It is capable of launching 4,500 kilograms of payload to a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit
The rocket has, despite successful launches, suffered apparent issues with its upper stage fragmenting. The upper stage for the launch which carried the first 18 Qianfan satellites broke up into a cloud suspected to number more than 700 pieces of orbital debris.
The first launch of satellites for another, state-owned Chinese megaconstellation, Guowang, took place mid-December.
The mission was China’s fifth orbital launch attempt of 2025. It follows the launch of the Shijian-25 spacecraft servicing satellite Jan. 6, the sea launch of 10 navigation augmentation satellites Jan. 13, a remote sensing satellite for Pakistan and two smaller domestic satellites, and a Ceres-1 launch of five commercial satellites earlier this week.
CASC has yet to publish an overview of China’s overall plans for the year, but it may once again attempt to reach around 100 launches, as targeted for 2024.
Major missions for 2025 include crewed Shenzhou-20 and -21 missions and Tianzhou cargo spacecraft to the Tiangong space station and the Tianwen-2 near-Earth asteroid sample return mission. The latter is expected to launch around May. China also aims to debut a number of new Long March and potentially reusable commercial rockets during 2025.
