Having announced thirteen months ago that the Tianwen-3 (天问三号) Mars sample return mission is open to international instruments, the China National Space Administration shared which participants had been selected, with five in total.

Three of those instruments will be onboard Tianwen-3’s orbiter-Earth return spacecraft, residing in a 350-kilometer orbit of Mars. Of interest for the mission’s aim of searching for life, the France-headquartered Committee on Space Research1 has its ‘Mars PEX Spectrometer’, which will look for possible biosignatures across the red planet, while also analyzing the composition of surface materials.

With it in orbit is the ‘Mars Molecular Ion Composition Analyzer’ from the Macao University of Science and Technology (澳门科技大学), in the Macao (澳门) Special Administrative Region2. That instrument will study how the planet’s atmosphere is lost due to pressures in the solar environment, originating from the Sun.

Macao is not the only Special Administrative Region on the orbiter-Earth return spacecraft, as Hong Kong’s (香港) Chinese University of Hong Kong (香港中文大学)3 has a ‘Laser Heterodyne Spectrometer’ for the mission. The spectrometer will be used to measure the distribution of water in the Martian atmosphere as well as wind.

Elsewhere in space above Mars, with the lander-ascent vehicle combination’s service module in a highly elliptical orbit, the University of Hong Kong (香港大学) has its ‘Short-Wavelength Infrared Spectrometer’ for conducting a resource survey of the planet, hoping to find potential biosignatures and hydrous materials, and forecasting dust storms that can kill spacecraft. Speaking on the inclusion of the instrument aboard Tianwen-3, Professor Li Yiliang (李一良) of the university’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences shared:

“This mission marks a significant contribution from Hong Kong’s scientific community to the nation’s deep space exploration programme. Using hyperspectral imaging technology, we will directly search for biosignatures and hydrous minerals on Mars, which is fundamentally important for understanding the distribution of life in the universe.”

Lastly, Italy’s Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati has produced a ‘Laser Retroreflector Array’ to establish a second reference point on the Martian surface for accurate distance measurements by being onboard the lander. Retroreflectors have been sent to the Moon for over fifty years, including on the far side, but only started reaching Mars this decade. Talking to China Daily, Yu Guang (余光) detailed why sending the arrays to the red planet is important for Tianwen-3:

“[The] array is used for high-precision laser ranging to realize accurate positioning. […] The placement of such a device on Mars allows orbiters to conduct laser ranging and precise positioning. It will help to establish a unified time and geodetic reference frame between Earth and Mars, and will provide strong technical support for Mars orbital rendezvous and docking — the most challenging step in the Mars sample-return mission.”

With those instruments onboard, as well as ones from Chinese institutions, Tianwen-3 will launch towards Mars atop of two Long March 5’s4, within about a month of each other, from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in 2028. Assuming the mission proceeds as planned, samples of the surface of Mars will be collected and then returned to Earth in 2031, likely making China the first nation to do so. Those samples will be shared with global scientists, like those collected by Chang’e 5 and Chang’e 6.

Come aboard Xihe-2

Also announced on April 24th is that the Xihe-2 (羲和二号) mission, formally known as Lagrange-V solar observatory (LAVSO), is open to a handful of international instruments. The mission, set to launch in 2028 or 2029 towards the L5 Sun-Earth Lagrange point5, is planned to improve space weather predictions and early warnings for ejections from the Sun, alongside the generation and evolution of solar magnetic fields.

According to a statement from the China National Space Administration, letters of intent to outline foreign instruments must be submitted by the end of June6, with a narrowing down of candidates by September, with complete proposals to be detailed by the end of that month. Confirmation of what instruments will be onboard Xihe-2 will then be chosen in December.

As for how large instruments can be, the mass limit was shared to be no more than 15 kilograms while occupying a 200 by 200 by 120 millimeter space. Those instruments must also draw no more than 30 watts of power while surviving at a temperature regularly between -50 and 70 degrees Celsius.

To maintain launch opportunities via a Long March 3C from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in late 2028 or early 2029, the China National Space Administration outlined that instruments must be delivered by April 2028 for integrated testing and launch preparations. Useful data from Xihe-2 is expected to start being beamed back after around 140 days, with it reaching the L5 point about 790 days post-launch.

Previously expected to head into orbit as soon as April 9th, the launch of the SMILE spacecraft, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院), is now slated to launch atop of a Vega-C from French Guiana no earlier than May 19th.

Regarding what caused the postponement, Avio, operator of Vega-C launch missions, shared on April 5th that they had discovered technical issues with subsystem components during production, which may have found their way onto SMILE’s rocket and thus halted the launch campaign out of caution. An investigation into the issue concluded on April 23rd, and launch efforts resumed.

While the investigation was ongoing, SMILE remained sat atop a Vega-C rocket on the launch pad, within a climate-controlled fairing. Both the spacecraft and rocket were repeatedly shared to have been in stable and safe conditions.

As for why the launch is now set for three weeks from now, it is probably to deconflict any launch site issues with an upcoming Ariane 6 mission, which is also being actively prepared and looking to fly as soon as April 28th. Due to that rocket’s extensive use of liquid hydrogen, there is a sufficiently non-zero chance its liftoff gets delayed.

Following its launch over the course of about a month, SMILE will gradually propel itself into its science-performing orbit of 121,000-by-5,000 kilometers, out of its parking orbit of 700 kilometers that it will be in around fifty-seven minutes after liftoff.

After the spacecraft is in that orbit, it will make quasi-continuous observations of key regions of Earth’s magnetosphere with both remote-sensing and in-situ instruments, with the aim of improving our understanding of solar storms, geomagnetic storms, and the science of space weather. To do that, four instruments are onboard:

• Soft X-ray Imager: to spectrally map the Earth’s magnetopause, magnetosheath, and magnetospheric cusps.

  • Developed, built, and calibrated at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom, and other institutions throughout Europe. The charge-coupled devices are procured from e2v by the European Space Agency and calibrated by The Open University, also in the UK.

• UltraViolet Imager: for imaging Earth’s auroras that appear over both the north and south poles.

  • A joint venture between the University of Calgary in Canada, the Chinese National Space Science Centre, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Polar Research Institute of China, and Centre Spatial de Liège, Belgium.

• Light Ion Analyser: to understand solar wind particle properties as they head towards Earth, two are onboard.

  • A joint venture between the Chinese National Space Science Centre, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory, UK, and the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, France.

• A Magnetometer: Also aimed at understanding solar wind particle properties en route to Earth.

  • A joint venture between the Chinese National Space Science Centre, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Space Research Institute, Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Having been thought up in the late 2000s for establishing a moon base and building space-based solar power, and going through many design changes, the massive Long March 9 launch vehicle appears to be taking its first firm steps toward becoming a real launch vehicle.

At the end of March, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology put out a tender for construction, which was won by the Aviation Industry Corporation of China’s Planning and Design Institute (中国航空规划设计研究总院有限公司), for a massive facility in Wenchang (文昌市), labelled as a ‘Joint Workshop Rocket Base Project’, that will occupy 101.5 square kilometers. That facility was outlined to be ‘single story’, with select areas having up to four floors, and having two major buildings. The larger building was dubbed the ‘general assembly building’ with dimensions of 380.5 meters in length, 182.4 meters in width, and heights of 119.5 and 80.8 meters dictated by usage inside. The smaller building, called the ‘sub-assembly building’, was stated to be 64.3 meters long, 28 meters wide, and 35.8 meters tall.

Within the first week of April, as seen by European satellites, ground was broken at a location previously of interest for the Long March 9. That site sits a short drive north of the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Sites technical area, where launch vehicles are prepared to fly. Construction at the location is set to take place over twenty-five months, wrapping up by May 2028.

Due to the sheer scale of the site, recent groundbreaking ahead of construction is quite likely to be for the mammoth partially reusable Long March 9 launch vehicle, 10.6 meters in diameter and about 114 meters tall, which will also have a full reusable variant1. Direct updates about the site will probably be few, as development work on the vehicle so far has been kept largely behind closed doors.

As for why the ‘Joint Workshop Rocket Base Project’ site is so large, it is going to be due to limitations of rocket transportation systems. Currently, China’s launch vehicles are delivered to Wenchang via ships sailing between Hainan (海南) province and production facilities in Tianjin (天津) and Shanghai (上海市). With space limitations in those cities and the high cost of building new larger, dedicated vessels2, locating a manufacturing site (‘sub-assembly building’) and a stage integration facility (‘general assembly building’) near the launch site dramatically reduces costs. This approach has been previously taken by SpaceX for its Starship-Super Heavy system.

Just outside Wenchang, with plans to catch Long March 9 first-stages downrange on an autonomous ship, the Qinglang Port (清澜港) may need to be expanded further south and on its eastern shore to enable offloading of boosters3. It is expected that ‘Linghangzhe (领航者)’, the catching ship for the Long March 10 series, can use the port at present. Alternatively, a dedicated port for offloading boosters could be built closer to the Wenchang launch sites.

Building the Long March 9 so far

Regarding launch vehicle development4, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology has put the majority of its efforts into developing the systems, techniques, and skills to produce large propellant tanks. In 2021, a first 9.5-meter-diameter tank dome was completed to prove welding methods. By March 2023, the first proving tank was completed, standing about 6 meters tall while retaining the dome’s diameter, and taken for testing. More test tanks of varying sizes and increasing diameters are believed to have been produced since.

A few dozen engines are set to consume the propellants stored in the Long March 9’s propellant tanks. Thirty YF-215 liquid methane and liquid oxygen burning full-flow staged-combustion engines will be used on the first-stage, with five more on a second-stage, generating about 200 tons of thrust. Designs of the engine were solidified in 2022, with subscale tests by mid-2024, partial tests in the second half of 2025. First full system tests are expected to take place imminently, if they have not already without publication.

Meanwhile, the engine to propel the Long March 9’s third-stage, sending payloads to the Moon and deep space, is far along in development. Designated the YF-79 with four set to be installed on the stage, each generating 25 tons of thrust from burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, the first thrust chamber tests occurred in December 2021, and by mid-November 2022 full system firings began. Since September 2025, there is discussion of replacing the four YF-79’s with a single YF-91, using the same propellants but generating 120 tons of thrust.

Currently understood plans will have the Long March 9 performing its debut flight around 2030, with the introduction of its three-stage version a few years later. In the 2040s a reusable second-stage will be introduced upon the completion of research into relevant thermal protection technologies5.

A Long March 6 steadily rose off of Launch Complex 16 at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on April 25th at 20:15 pm China Standard Time (12:15 pm Universal Coordinated Time), heading for low Earth orbit on behalf of an international customer.

That international customer was, somewhat expectedly, Pakistan with the PRSC-EO3 remote sensing satellite, supported by the China Academy of Space Technology. The satellite is equipped with a high-resolution optical instrument to perform its tasks.

Previously, China’s commercial and state-run launch vehicles have delivered other earth observation and remote sensing satellites for Pakistan, including PRSC-EO1 in January 2025, PRSC-EO2 in February, PRSC-S1 in July 2025, and PRSC-HS1 in October 2025. Working together, the five satellites will improve mapping of the country, natural disaster monitoring and planning, agricultural support services, as well as the planning of urban developments.

This year will also see a Pakistani astronaut visiting the Tiangong Space Station for about a week.

Once PRSC-EO3 was released into space, the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology shared via a post-launch blog post that launch preparations took place on a compressed schedule while maintaining mandated quality controls. Compressed schedules were deemed needed after Pakistan was said to have bought this launch around six months ago, coming one year and three weeks after the Long March 6’s previous flight.

Interestingly, the Shanghai Academy felt it relevant to list all of the Long March 6’s launch missions and some development milestones to date, starting in July 2008. That alone would not be interesting if rumours of the launch vehicle’s retirement had not been circulating for the past several months, which were not confirmed or denied.

Today’s launch was the 15th mission for the Long March 6, the 265th Long March vehicle from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and the 640th launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. This was also the 26th launch from China in 2026.

Liftoff footage via 我们的太空 on WeChat.

Subscribe now

Check out the previous Long March 6 launch

What is the Long March 6?

This section is for those less familiar with China’s Long March series of launch vehicles.

The Long March 6 was the first ‘green-propellant’ Long March launch vehicle with it being developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. The first two stages of the vehicle burn rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen, with the third-stage burning Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine.

The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:

• 1,080 kilograms into a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit

The first-stage is powered by a YF-100 engine producing 122 tons of thrust and fuelled by rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen. The second-stage is powered by a YF-115 generating 18 tons of thrust while also burning rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen. The third-stage is powered by a YF-50E engine generating 0.66 tons of thrust burning Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine.

On the launchpad, the Long March 6 is believed to be 29 meters tall and weighs 103,000 kilograms when fully fuelled. The first-stage has a diameter of 3.35 meters, with a second-stage diameter of 2.25 meters, and a fairing diameter of 2.6 meters.

So far every Long March 6 has launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, in the north of Shanxi province.

At Launch Complex 3 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, a Long March 2D lifted off at 14:35 pm China Standard Time (06:35 am Universal Coordinated Time) on April 24th, heading for low Earth orbit with a few test spacecraft.

Those spacecraft being launched were four Weixing Hulianwang Jishu Shiyan (卫星互联网技术试验卫星), translating to Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite, for testing new systems and upgrades to China’s space-based connectivity mega-constellations. Upgrades mentioned today included direct-to-device services and the joining of terrestrial and orbital networks. GalaxySpace (银河航天), a commercial satellite manufacturer, made at one of the test satellites, while two were produced by Changguang Satellite Technology Co Ltd (长光卫星技术股份有限公司). The Harbin Institute of Technology Satellite Technology Co Ltd (哈尔滨工大卫星技术有限公司) also developed one of the satellites.

Any breakthroughs made with the satellite will primarily be applied to the Central Government-supported GuoWang (国网) mega-constellation. With today’s launch, twenty-nine test satellites have been launched since 2021, with five in 2026.

Designs of recent test satellites are not known, but they are likely similar to operational GuoWang spacecraft, which has limited details confirmed.

This flight used a 4.2-meter-diameter composite fairing, introduced on the Long March 2D’s previous mission, for the second time with specific adaptations to handle Xichang’s wetter environment (compared to the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center). Electrical and onboard telemetry systems were also said to have been optimized.

Today’s launch was the 104th mission for the Long March 2D, the 264th Long March vehicle from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and the 639th launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. This was also the 25th launch from China in 2026.

Liftoff footage via Cosmic Penguin on Twitter.

Subscribe now

Check out the previous Long March 2D launch

What is the Long March 2D?

This section is for those less familiar with China’s Long March series of launch vehicles.

The Long March 2D is also one of the oldest launch vehicles from China, performing missions regularly to low Earth and sun-synchronous orbits by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, as a two-stage version of the Long March 4 vehicles. The two stages of the launch vehicle both burn Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine.

The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:

• 3,500 kilograms to low Earth orbit

• 1,300 kilograms to a sun-synchronous orbit

The first-stage is powered by four YF-21C engines, which generate 302 tons of thrust burning Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine. The second-stage is powered by a single YF-22C engine and four YF-23C verniers that generate 80 tons of thrust while also burning Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine.

On the launch pad, the Long March 2D is 41.05 meters tall and weighs 232,250 kilograms when fully fuelled. The first and second stages have a diameter of 3.35 meters, with the fairing having a diameter of either 3.35, 3.8, 4, or 4.2 meters.

So far, the Long March 2D has flown from all three inland launch sites, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

This page will be continuously updated as China launches satellites for the Qianfan, GuoWang, Honghu-3, Geely Future Mobility, Tianqi, and Three-Body Computing constellations. These six constellations are expected to have a combined satellite count of 50,730 once fully deployed.

I will share when this page is updated on my Twitter (officially “X”) and Bluesky account, where you can also pester me to update it. You can jump to each constellation with the following hyperlinks:

• Qianfan

  • Qianfan Test Satellites

• GuoWang

  • GuoWang GEO Segment

  • GuoWang Test Satellites

• Honghu-3

• Geely Future Mobility Constellation

• Tianqi

• Three-Body Computing Constellation

Qianfan

The Qianfan (千帆) mega-constellation, formerly called G60 Starlink, is operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies Co Ltd (上海垣信卫星科技有限公司), which is partly backed by the municipal government of Shanghai. Qianfan literally means ‘Thousand Sails’ in English, which is why some media refer to it as such.

This constellation may have up to 15,000 satellites in orbit by 2030. As of December 2025, the deployment aims of the constellation should have 324 satellites launched in 2026, 324 in 2027, and 4,000 in 2028 and 2029, followed by 5,000 in 2030.

Each first-generation Qianfan satellite weighs 267 kilograms and can utilize 100 gigabits of intersatellite throughput to provide 20 megabits in download speed and 5 megabits of upload speed for a cell phone. For maneuvering in orbit, each satellite has an electric hall-effect thruster burning krypton to generate 20 millinewtons of thrust, with a specific impulse of 1,385 seconds.

Future second-generation satellites will weigh between 400 and 500 kilograms, while third-generation satellites will be around 1,500 kilograms. Second-generation satellites will provide maritime services along with the constellations’ terrestrial services, and third-generation satellites will improve overall services.

So far, 126 satellites have been launched for this constellation. A visualization of active satellites in orbit is available here.

2024

August 6th - Polar Group 01 (18 satellites)

On August 6th the first batch of satellites for Qianfan was sent into a polar orbit atop of a Long March 6A. This launch occurred from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

After launch 18 satellites were deployed from the Long March 6A Y21’s second-stage, at an altitude of approximately 800 kilometers.

October 15th - Polar Group 02 (18 satellites)

A little over two months later, the second batch of Qianfan satellites were sent into polar orbit atop of a Long March 6A, also from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

Following launch 18 satellites were deployed from the Long March 6A Y20’s second-stage, likely at a similar altitude to the first batch.

December 5th - Polar Group 03 (18 satellites)

Following another two-month gap, the third batch of Qianfan satellites were delivered to polar orbit atop of a Long March 6A, once again flying from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

After launch 18 satellites were deployed from the Long March 6A Y22’s second-stage.

2025

January 23rd - Polar Group 06 (18 satellites)

Qianfan began deployment in 2025 with its fourth batch, officially group six, being sent to polar orbit by a Long March 6A, flying from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

After launch 18 satellites were released from the Long March 6A Y6’s second-stage.

March 11th - Polar Group 05 (18 satellites)

For its first mission atop of the Long March 8, Qianfan’s second launch of 2025 saw the deployment of group five, for the fifth batch of satellites. With the mission flying from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site.

After launch 18 satellites were released from the Long March 8' Y6’s second-stage.

October 17th - Polar Group 18 (18 satellites)

Following a seven-month pause, Qianfan’s Polar Group 18 was launched atop a Long March 6A from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, placing eighteen satellites into orbit. This was the constellation’s sixth launch.

2026

April 7th - Polar Group 07 (18 satellites)

Off of Commercial Launch Pad 1 at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site, Qianfan’s seventh overall group of satellites was deployed into a near-polar orbit by a Long March 8, with eighteen satellites onboard.

Qianfan Test Satellites

Prior to the beginning of deployments in 2024, Shanghai Spacesail Technologies Co Ltd had a few test satellites launched through its backing of German enterprise KLEO connect.

2019

November 17th - KL-Alpha Duo

Via ExPace’s Kuaizhou-1A out of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, two test satellites dubbed KL-Alpha-A and KL-Alpha-B were placed into low Earth orbit for testing Ka-band coordination. The duo had their manufacturing contracted to the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院微小卫星创新研究院).

2021

August 4th - KL-Beta Duo

Two more test satellites, called KL-Beta-A and KL-Beta-B, were delivered to low Earth orbit by a Long March 6 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center for testing laser-interconnect coordination as well as electric propulsion. Their manufacturing was also contracted to the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院微小卫星创新研究院).

GuoWang

The GuoWang (国网)1 mega-constellation, commonly called Weixing Hulianwang Digui (卫星互联网低轨)2 by Chinese-language media and sometimes known as Xingwang (星网)3, is operated by China Satellite Network Group (中国卫星网络集团有限公司), and is backed by the Chinese government.

This constellation may have up to 13,000 satellites in orbit once fully deployed. As of December 2025, the deployment aims of the constellation should have 310 satellites launched in 2026, 900 in 2027, and 3,600 in 2028, 2029, and 2030.

So far, 168 satellites have been launched for this constellation. A visualization of active satellites in orbit is available here.

2024

December 16th - GuoWang Group 01 (10 satellites)

The first group of GuoWang satellites entered a polar orbit on December 16th after being launched on a Long March 5B, with a Yuanzheng-2 upper-stage, from the Wenchang Space Launch Site.

After maneuvers with the Yuangzheng-2 upper-stage, the 10 satellites were tracked in a roughly 1,090-kilometer by 1,110-kilometer orbit.

2025

February 11th - GuoWang Group 02 (9 satellites)

A second group of GuoWang satellites was delivered into low Earth orbit by the first Long March 8A, from the Wenchang Space Launch Site. This launch had nine satellites were onboard, which were deployed into a roughly 871 by 860 kilometer orbit.

April 29th - GuoWang Group 03 (10 satellites)

The third group of satellites for GuoWang were delivered to a polar orbit on April 29th via a Long March 5B with a Yuanzheng-2 upper-stage. This launch had ten satellites deployed once in orbit.

June 6th - GuoWang Group 04 (5 satellites)

A Long March 6A launched the fourth group of GuoWang satellites to polar orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, becoming the first time GuoWang satellites were delivered to orbit from the site. Five satellites are believed to have been onboard.

July 27th - GuoWang Group 05 (5 satellites)

The fifth batch of GuoWang satellites were sent to polar orbit atop of a Long March 6A, flying from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Five satellites are believed to have been onboard.

July 30th - GuoWang Group 06 (9 satellites)

A Long March 8A delivered the sixth group of GuoWang satellites to low Earth orbit, flying out of the Wenchang Space Launch Site. Nine satellites were believed to have been onboard.

August 4th - GuoWang Group 07 (9 satellites)

The seventh batch of GuoWang satellites headed to low Earth orbit atop of a Long March 12. Another nine satellites were believed to have been onboard.

August 13th - GuoWang Group 08 (10 satellites)

Ten more GuoWang satellites, for the constellation’s eighth batch, headed to a polar orbit atop of a Long March 5B flying out of the Wenchang Space Launch Site, with a Yuanzheng-2 upper-stage bringing the satellites toward their intended orbit.

August 17th - GuoWang Group 09 (5 satellites)

Via a Long March 6A from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, five satellites were sent into orbit for GuoWang’s ninth group.

August 25th - GuoWang Group 10 (9 satellites)

GuoWang’s tenth batch of satellites, likely with nine onboard, was delivered to low Earth orbit by a Long March 8A flying out of the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site.

September 27th - GuoWang Group 11 (5 satellites)

Through another Long March 6A launch from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, five more satellites for the GuoWang constellation were delivered to low Earth orbit.

October 16th - GuoWang Group 12 (9 satellites)

A Long March 8A delivered nine satellites for the GuoWang constellation into low Earth orbit from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site for the twelfth group overall.

November 10th - GuoWang Group 13 (9 satellites)

Via a Long March 12 flying out of the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site, nine satellites for GuoWang were sent into low Earth orbit for the thirteenth group overall.

December 6th - GuoWang Group 14 (9 satellites)

A Long March 8A carried nine satellites for GuoWang into low Earth orbit from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site for the fourteenth group overall.

December 8th - GuoWang Group 15 (5 satellites)

Five GuoWang spacecraft were added to the mega-constellation via a Long March 6A mission to polar orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

December 12th - GuoWang Group 16 (9 satellites)

GuoWang’s sixteenth group of satellites, nine onboard, was delivered to low Earth orbit by a Long March 12 launching from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site.

December 26th - GuoWang Group 17 (9 satellites)

For GuoWang’s last launch of 2025, the seventeenth group of satellites were launched atop of a Long March 8A from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site.

2026

January 13th - GuoWang Group 18 (9 satellites)

Starting GuoWang deployments in 2026, a Long March 8A flew from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site while carrying nine satellites for the constellation’s eighteenth group.

January 19th - GuoWang Group 19 (9 satellites)

A Long March 12 supported the deployment of GuoWang’s nineteenth group, with nine satellites being placed into low Earth orbit following a mission from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site.

March 12th - GuoWang Group 20 (9 satellites)

Out of the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site, a Long March 8A carried nine GuoWang satellites into low Earth orbit as part of the mega-constellation’s twentieth group.

April 9th - GuoWang Group 21 (5 satellites)

From the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, another five GuoWang spacecraft were placed into orbit by a Long March 6A for the twenty-first deployment of the mega-constellation.

GuoWang GEO Segment

While not explicitly part of the low Earth orbit constellation (and not counted in the total count), GuoWang is believed to be receiving support from a few satellites, dubbed WHG or Weixing Hulianwang Gaogui (卫星互联网高轨), also known as internet high-orbit satellite in English, in geostationary space to bridge gaps in coverage or provide low-bandwidth coverage in select areas. Based on the satellite platform, likely the China Academy of Space Technology’s Dongfanghong-4, up to 200 Gigabits per second of throughput could be available.

Currently, 3 satellites make up the geostationary support segment, being placed at: 33.6 degrees East over central Africa, 77.2 degrees West over northern South America, and 153.2 degrees East just above Papua New Guinea.

2024

February 29th - WHG-01 (33.6 degrees East)

The first WHG satellite was delivered to a geostationary transfer orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center by a Long March 3B/E on February 29th.

August 1st - WHG-02 (77.2 degrees West)

A second WHG satellite was launched into a geostationary transfer orbit by a Long March 3B/E rocket a few months later, on August 1st from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

October 10th - WHG-03 (153.2 degrees East)

The third WHG-designated satellite blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on October 10th atop of a Long March 3B/E heading for a geostationary transfer orbit.

GuoWang Test Satellites

While yet to be officially stated as test satellites for the GuoWang constellation (also not counted in the total count), over a dozen have been launched under a similar designation and with the same spacecraft developers as GuoWang. Test satellite designations have been designated Digui Tongxin Weixing (低轨通信卫星), Low-orbit Communication Satellites in English, and Weixing Hulianwang Jishu Shiyan (卫星互联网技术试验卫星), literally Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite.

So far, 29 test satellites appear to have been launched.

2021

August 24th - Low-orbit Communication Satellites 01, 02, 03

From the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Three Low-orbit communication Satellites were sent into low Earth orbit on a Long March 2C with a Yuanzheng-1S upper-stage on August 24th to begin trialing constellation services and technologies.

2022

May 20th - Low-orbit Communication Satellites 04, 05, 06

Another three Low-orbit Communication Satellites were launched by a Long March 2C with a Yuanzheng-1S upper-stage on May 20th from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to further constellation technology and service trials.

2023

July 9th - Two Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites

A Long March 2C with a Yuanzheng-1S upper-stage flew from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center carrying two Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites into low Earth orbit on July 9th.

November 23rd - Three Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites

Three Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites were launched on November 23rd from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center via a Long March 2D with a Yaunzheng-3 upper-stage heading into low Earth orbit.

December 5th - One Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite

A single Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite was sent into polar orbit by a Jielong-3 off of a floating platform near Yangjiang (阳江市), Guangdong Province (广东), on December 5th.

December 30th - Three Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites

A Long March 2C with a Yuanzheng-1S upper-stage flew from the Jiuqan Satellite Launch Center on December 30th, carrying three Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites into low Earth orbit.

2024

November 30th - One Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite

The debut flight of the Long March 12 on November 30th delivered one Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite into low Earth orbit from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site.

2025

April 1st - Four Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites

On April 1st, a Long March 2D carried four Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites into low Earth orbit on April 1st from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

September 16th - Four Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites

Another four Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites were launched on a Long March 2C with a Yuanzheng-1S upper-stage on September 16th from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

2026

April 11th - One Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite

A Jielong-3 flying from the South China Sea, delivered a single Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite into sun-synchronous orbit on April 11th.

April 24th - Four Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites

Four Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites were placed into low Earth orbit by a Long March 2D flying from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on April 24th.

Honghu-3

The Honghu-3 (鸿鹄-3) mega-constellation is a joint venture between LandSpace, a launch company, and Hongqing Technology, a satellite manufacturer. LandSpace holds a 48% stake in Hongqing Technology. This constellation may have up to 10,000 satellites in orbit once fully deployed.

Pending first launch.

Geely Future Mobility Constellation

The Geely Future Mobility Constellation is backed by Chinese automaker Geely, doing business as Zhejiang Geely Holding Group (浙江吉利控股集团有限公司), with its wholly-owned subsidiary Geespace developing spacecraft and managing the constellation. This constellation will provide communication, connectivity, and positioning services. Once phases two and three of satellite deployment is completed, services will be expanded to include connectivity to mobile phones and satellite internet.

Geespace plans to deploy the mega-constellation in three phases. Phase one (2022-2025) will have 72 satellites sent into orbit, phase two will add an additional 264 satellites, and phase three will add another 5,676 satellites. In total, 6,012 satellites are planned to be deployed.

So far, 64 satellites have been launched for this constellation.

2022

June 2nd - Future Mobility Group 01 (9 satellites)

June 2nd 2022 had the first group of the Geely Future Mobility satellites enter orbit after a launch atop of a Long March 2C launching from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. This is believed to have made Geespace China’s first privately owned developer, operator, and mass producer of low-orbit commercial satellites.

After launch 9 satellites were deployed.

2024

February 3rd - Future Mobility Group 02 (11 satellites)

The second group of Geely Future Mobility satellites entered orbit on February 3rd 2024 after launching atop a Long March 2C from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, like the previous launch.

After launch 11 satellites were deployed.

September 6th - Future Mobility Group 03 (10 satellites)

The third group of satellites for the Geely Future Mobility Constellation was launched atop of a Long March 6 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. This was the first time a group for the constellation was launched aboard a non-hypergolic fuelled launch vehicle.

After launch 10 satellites were deployed from the Long March 6 Y11’s third-stage.

2025

August 8th - Future Mobility Group 04 (11 satellites)

Off the coast of Rizhao, in Shandong province, a Jielong-3 carried 11 satellites into low Earth orbit for the Geely Future Mobility Constellation. This was the first time the constellation was expanded via a sea launch.

September 8th - Future Mobility Group 05 (11 satellites)

Atop another Jielong-3, 11 satellites were sent to low Earth orbit near Rizhao. This was the second of three back-to-back-to-back sea launches for the constellation.

September 24th - Future Mobility Group 06 (12 satellites)

Geespace’s largest group of satellites, 12 onboard, were launched by yet another Jielong-3 from a sea-launch platform near Rizhao for the third mission in a series of back-to-back-to-back deployments.

Tianqi

Tianqi (天启) is an Internet-of-Things constellation from commercial space company Guodian Gaoke (国电高科). This constellation aims to provide enhanced connectivity services to assist with vehicle automation and communications.

Guodian Gaoke is also believed to be deploying the constellation in three phases based on stated plans and two International Telecommunication Union filings. The first phase will have 38 satellites, the second phase will add 640 satellites, and the third phase will add an additional 3,240 satellites. In total 3,918 satellites are planned to be deployed.

So far, 41 satellites have been launched for this constellation.

2018

October 29th - Tianqi-1 (1 satellite)

The first Tianqi satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center atop of a Long March 2C and as a secondary payload.

2019

June 5th - Tianqi-3 (1 satellite)

The next Tianqi satellite sent into orbit was Tianqi-3 which was launched from the Yellow Sea atop of a Long March 11.

August 17th - Tianqi-2 (1 satellite)

Tianqi-2 was the third satellite launched and was sent into orbit during the maiden launch of Jielong-1 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

December 7th - Tianqi-4A & Tianqi 4B (2 satellites)

Two Tianqi satellites were launched atop of a Kuaizhou-1A from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. These satellites were Tianqi-4A and 4B.

2020

January 15th - Tianqi-5 (1 satellite)

Tianqi-5 was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center by a Long March 2D as part of a multi-customer rideshare.

July 25th - Tianqi-10 (1 satellite)

A Long March 4B launching from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center carried Tianqi-10 into orbit as one of three payloads.

October 26th - Tianqi-6 (1 satellite)

A Long March 2C carried Tianqi-6 as a secondary payload during a launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

November 7th - Tianqi-11 (1 satellite)

Tianqi-11 was the sole satellite aboard the maiden launch of Ceres-1 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

December 22nd - Tianqi-8 (1 satellite)

Tianqi-8 was launched atop of a Long March 8 from the Wenchang Space Launch Site as part of the vehicles maiden flight.

2021

April 27th - Tianqi-9 (1 satellite)

A Long March 6 carried Tianqi-9 as part of a multi-customer rideshare mission from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center.

May 6th - Tianqi-12 (1 satellite)

Tianqi-12 was a secondary payload during the launch of a Long March 2C from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

June 18th - Tianqi-14 (1 satellite)

Tianqi-14 was launched as a secondary payload atop of a Long March 2C during a launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

July 19th - Tianqi-15 (1 satellite)

Tianqi-15 was also launched as a secondary payload atop a Long March 2C during a launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, a month after the last launch.

2022

February 27th - Tianqi-19 (1 satellite)

Tianqi-19 was launched atop of a Long March 8 during a multi-customer rideshare mission from the Wenchang Space Launch Site. This satellite was also the first of the second generation of Tianqi spacecraft.

December 9th - Tianqi-7 (1 satellite)

A Jielong-3 launched Tianqi-7 into orbit as part of a multi-customer rideshare launch from the Yellow Sea.

2023

January 9th - Tianqi-13 (1 satellite)

A Ceres-1 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center carried Tianqi-13 satellite into orbit at the beginning of 2023.

September 5th - Tianqi-21, 22, 23, & 24 (4 satellites)

Four Tianqi satellites were launched atop of a Ceres-1S from the Yellow Sea. These satellites were Tianqi-21, Tianqi-22, Tianqi-23, and Tianqi-24.

2024

May 29th - Tianqi-25, 26, 27, & 28 (4 satellites)

Another Ceres-1S carried another four Tianqi satellites into orbit from the Yellow Sea. These satellites were Tianqi-25, Tianqi-26, Tianqi-27, and Tianqi-28.

September 20th - Tianqi-29, 30, 31, & 32 (4 satellites)

Another four Tianqi satellites were launched, these satellites were carried into orbit by a Kuaizhou-1A from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. These satellites were Tianqi-29, Tianqi-30, Tianqi-31, and Tianqi-32.

December 19th - Tianqi-33, 34, 35, & 36 (4 satellites)

A Ceres-1S launched four Tianqi satellites into orbit from the Yellow Sea near the city of Rizhao. These satellites were Tianqi-33, Tianqi-34, Tianqi-35, and Tianqi-36, released into an 850-kilometer 45-degree inclination low Earth orbit.

2025

May 19th - Tianqi-16, 17, 19, & 20 (4 satellites)

Another Ceres-1S delivered four more Tianqi satellites to a 850-kilometer 45-degree inclination low Earth orbit from the coast of Rizhao in the Yellow Sea. The satellites being launched were Tianqi-16, Tianqi-17, Tianqi-19, and Tianqi-20.

2026

January 15th - Tianqi-37, 38, 39, & 40 (4 satellites)

Several months after the previous deployment, a Ceres-1S carried four Tianqi satellites into an 850-kilometer 45-degree inclination low Earth orbit from the coast of Rizhao. These satellites were designated Tianqi-37, Tianqi-38, Tianqi-39, and Tianqi-40.

Three-Body Computing Constellation

The Three-Body Computing Constellation is a computing constellation that aims to integrate space and ground computing into a single AI-enabled infrastructure, allowing for the processing of satellite data in space. ADA Space, also known as Chengdu Guoxing Aerospace Technology Co Ltd (成都国星航天科技有限公司) and shortened to Guoxing Aerospace, and Zhejiang Lab (之江实验室) are developing the constellation.

Up to 2,800 satellites are planned to be part of the constellation. To launch that many satellites, the constellation’s developers are utilizing two different designs. One satellite design, called ‘type one’, is stackable, allowing numerous spacecraft of the same design to be placed on top of each other. The other design, dubbed ‘type two’, is a more conventional CubeSat, allowing it to be a secondary payload for other missions with extra payload capacity left.

So far, 12 satellites have been launched for this constellation.

2025

May 15th - Computing Group 01 (12 satellites)

A Long March 2D blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center carrying the first 12 satellites for the Three-Body Computing Constellation into orbit. Two ‘type one’ and ten ‘type two’ satellites were onboard for the launch.

What is a mega-constellation?

A mega-constellation of satellites has no firm definition but is normally comprised of thousands of satellites when referred to in media. No solid number is stated for the beginning of mega-constellations. For the purposes of this article, I believe a mega-constellation is any satellite network boasting over 1,000 spacecraft.

Satellite constellations are typically defined as:

“A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global coverage, such that at any time everywhere on Earth at least one satellite is visible. Satellites are typically placed in sets of complementary orbital planes and connect to globally distributed ground stations. They may also use inter-satellite communication.”
- Wikipedia’s Satellite constellation page on September 27th 2024.

Article Updates

This section is a list of when this article was updated. The date published will also be moved forward with each update.

August 10th 2024: Article released.

September 27th 2024: Added Geely’s Future Mobility Constellation and Guodian Gaoke’s Tianqi Internet-of-Things constellation to reflect both company’s future plans. Also added the ‘What is a mega-constellation?’ section. Removed hyperlinks to years due to bugs with substacks heading links.

October 15th 2024: Added Qianfan Polar Group 02 (18 satellites) after a successful launch.

November 29th 2024: Expanded on Geely’s Future Mobility Constellation service offerings for phases two and three of operations. Also added a link to Bluesky.

December 5th 2024: Added Qianfan Polar Group 03 (18 satellites) after a successful launch.

December 16th 2024: Added the first GuoWang launch, GuoWang Group 01 (10 satellites).

December 19th 2024: Added the launch of Tianqi-33, Tianqi-34, Tianqi-35, and Tianqi-36.

January 23rd 2025: Added Qianfan Polar Group 06 (18 satellites) after a successful launch.

February 11th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 02, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 8A.

March 11th 2025: Added Qianfan Polar Group 05 (18 satellites) after a successful launch from Wenchang.

April 29th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 03, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 5B.

May 4th 2025: Updated Qianfan constellation details, specifically with satellite generations.

May 15th 2025: Added the Three-Body Computing Constellation.

May 19th 2025: Added Tianqi-16, 17, 19, & 20.

June 6th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 04, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion following the successful launch of a Long March 6A.

July 27th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 05, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion following the successful launch of a Long March 6A.

July 30th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 06, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 8A.

August 4th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 07, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 12.

August 8th 2025: Added Geely Future Mobility Constellation Group 04, with 11 satellites, after successful launch of a Jielong-3.

August 13th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 08, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 5B.

August 17th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 09, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 6A.

August 18th 2025: Added the GuoWang GEO Segment, with its three WHG satellites.

August 25th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 10, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 8A.

September 8th 2025: Added Geely Future Mobility Constellation Group 05, with 11 satellites, after successful launch of a Jielong-3.

September 16th 2025: Added GuoWang Test Satellites section and related launches.

September 24th 2025: Added Geely Future Mobility Constellation Group 06, with 12 satellites, after successful launch of a Jielong-3.

September 27th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 11, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 6A.

October 16th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 12, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 8A.

October 17th 2025: Added Qianfan Polar Group 18 (18 satellites) after a successful launch from Taiyuan.

November 10th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 13, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 12. Also another name for the GuoWang constellation.

December 6th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 14, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 8A.

December 9th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 15, unconfirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 6A.

December 12th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 16, with basically confirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 12.

December 26th 2025: Added GuoWang Group 17 with basically confirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 8A. Also included GuoWang and Qianfan deployment aims, shared in December 2025.

January 13th 2026: Added GuoWang Group 18, with basically confirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 8A. Also added Qianfan test satellite launches.

January 15th 2026: Added Tianqi-37, 38, 39, & 40 after a successful launch.

January 19th 2026: Added GuoWang Group 19, with basically confirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 12.

March 12th 2026: Added GuoWang Group 20, with basically confirmed satellite count at the time of inclusion, after successful launch of a Long March 8A.

April 7th 2026: Added Qianfan Polar Group 07 (18 satellites) after a successful launch from Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site via a Long March 8.

April 8th/9th 2026: Added GuoWang Group 21 after a successful launch from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center atop of a Long March 6A.

April 11th 2026: Added April 11th’s Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite launch following a Jielong-3 launch mission.

April 24th 2026: Added April 24th’s four Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellites launch following a Long March 2D launch mission.

Recently on April 20th, Beijing Astro-Future Institute of Space Technology’s (北京星辰未来空间技术研究院) incubator Beijing Orbital Twilight Technology Co Ltd (北京轨道辰光科技有限公司), known in short as Orbital Chenguang (轨道辰光), completed its first round of capital financing, labelled as ‘A1’, to support its space-based AI compute plans.

That capital will be used to kick off the long-term development of space-based data centers previously outlined by the Astro-Future Institute, which will eventually establish a sixteen-spacecraft constellation of laser-linked gigawatt-scale data centers in sun-synchronous orbit to utilize effectively all-day solar power, by financing the development of critical technologies and supporting the establishment of relevant services. According to Zhang Shancong (张善从), head of both entities, putting compute in space will reduce emissions that warm the atmosphere and relieve demands on local grids. Sometime this year a first test satellite will be launched.

The capital round to do that was backed by Haisong Capital (海松资本), CITIC Securities Investment (中信建投投资), Cathay Capital (凯辉基金), Inno Angel Fund (英诺天使基金), Anhui Xinhua Group (安徽新华集团), Zhike Industrial Investment (智科产投), Kunlun Capital (昆仑资本), and Lizhe Fund (砺哲基金), while raising an undisclosed amount through the sale of company shares. Meanwhile, Orbital Chenguang has secured 57.7 billion Yuan (8.45 billion United States Dollars, as of April 21st) of strategic credit lines with multiple major fincial institutions, directly naming the Bank of China (中国银行), the Agricultural Bank of China (农业银行), the Bank of Communications (交通银行), Shanghai Pudong Development Bank (浦发银行), CITIC Bank (中信银行), China Merchants Bank (招商银行), China Minsheng Bank (民生银行), the Industrial Bank (兴业银行), Huaxia Bank (华夏银行), China Everbright Bank (光大银行), the Bank of Beijing (北京银行), and the Bank of Hangzhou (杭州银行).

With tens of billions of Yuan in strategic credit, Chinese institutions are serious in backing the further establishment and long-term use of space-based AI computing. In support of that, Orbital Chenguang quoted Chen Liguang (陈立光) of Haisong Capital as saying:

“With the rapid development of the space economy, space-based in-orbit computing power has become a core infrastructure in fields such as satellite internet, space remote sensing, satellite constellation deployment, and space exploration. The development potential of autonomous and controllable on-board computing power holds immense potential and is also a key national strategy. … In the future, we will leverage our industrial ecosystem, upstream and downstream resources, and capital platform to comprehensively empower the company’s technological iteration, in-orbit validation, and large-scale commercial deployment, working together to build the foundation for space-based data centers.”

If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.

Previously, the Astro-Future Institute has received backing from electronics giant Lenovo and the municipal government of Beijing (北京), with at least 140 million Yuan (20.5 million United States Dollars) in funding. More recently, Orbital Chenguang signed a cooperation agreement with the Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen (哈尔滨工业大学, 深圳) to jointly research needed energy management systems for larger space-based data centers.

Elsewhere during this week, newer space enterprises have made first steps to prove their early plans for space-based computing. Xingyong Space Chengdu Technology Co Ltd (星用空间成都科技有限公司) increased its overall available capital to 218.6 million Yuan (32 million United States Dollars), while Comospace (中科天算), Hangsheng Satellite (航升卫星), and Yanhe Technology (炎和科技) have teamed up to perform a two-satellite high-powered in-space compute demonstration by March 2027, leveraging their expertise in small spacecraft, advanced solar cells, and powerful space-rated processors.

While the above-mentioned enterprises are still setting up plans to establish space-based compute, ADA Space (国星宇航) and Zhejiang Laboratory (之江实验室) have placed twelve satellites into orbit for the Three-Body Computing Constellation, which has run several different AI models and agents to date. 2026 should see the constellation triple in satellite count, and therefore compute too.

State-owned enterprises, namely the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, have an interest in placing compute in space too, aiming to establish a gigawatt worth of space-based data centers during the 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030). It’s unclear if the state-owned enterprise and its many subsidiaries would look to directly develop orbiting compute, possibly leveraging existing work for space-based solar power stations, or would be more managerial to align commercially operating companies.

If any readers would like to understand why China is pouring immense resources into AI, I can recommend Kai-Fu Lee’s (李開復) 2019 book ‘AI Superpowers: China, Silicon Valley, and the New World Order’ (ISBN: 9780358105589).

Earlier today, April 22nd, the China Manned Space Agency announced that the selection of two Pakistani astronaut candidates has been finalized ahead of their mission training and launch to the Tiangong Space Station later this year, naming the two spacefarers as Muhammad Zeeshan Ali1 and Khurram Daud2, both former pilots from Pakistan’s armed forces.

Now selected, the two men will head to China in the near future to train as a Payload Expert alongside two taikonauts already chosen to fly alongside them. Their joint training will largely focus on launch, with one crew, and landing, alongside another crew, due to the Pakistani astronaut staying for a short time and not a full six-month crew rotation. As of February, it is expected launch will happen via the Shenzhou-24 mission and a return to Earth will occur via Shenzhou-23.

Few details about the two astronaut candidates are currently available, likely awaiting a more thorough disclosure at a pre-launch meeting with the press. That will also reveal which of the two men was chosen as the primary crew member and the other as the backup.

When one of the two do venture to Tiangong, for at least a week, they will assist the five taikonauts on board with them as well as perform research on Pakistan-originating short-duration experiments going up and returning alongside them. Those experiments are stated to cover material sciences, fluid physics, life sciences, and biotechnology, with possible applications for climate resilience and food security.

An agreement to fly a Pakistani astronaut and research experiments to the orbiting laboratory was agreed upon fourteen months ago, in February 2025.

To enable the brief visit of a Pakistani astronaut, a taikonaut is going to be in space for twelve months continuously for the first time, launching in late May or early June as part of the Shenzhou-23 mission and returning about a year later with Shenzhou-24. Some candidates for the yearlong stay are Liu Yang (刘洋)3, Wang Yaping (王亚平)4, Tang Hongbo (汤洪波)5, Ye Guangfu (叶光富)6, and Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲)7, assuming previous mission experience is desired8.

A crew member possibly working alongside the yearlong-staying taikonaut and with the Pakistani astronaut, either heading to or from Tiangong, may be the first taikonaut selected from the Hong Kong (香港) and Macao (澳门) Special Administrative Regions, based on expectations of relevant high-level officials.

Another piece of news relevant to the Pakistani astronaut's visit to Tiangong also announced today was the arrival of the Long March 2F/G launch vehicle, for the Shenzhou-24 mission, at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The launch vehicle arrived three months after another for Shenzhou-23, both being delivered months ahead of their original schedules after Shenzhou-20’s debris strike late last year9.

Earlier this month, the first Long March 10B launch vehicle rolled out from its integration building at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site for final tests atop of Commercial Launch Pad 2 with its transporter-erector, before a launch at the end of April.

In the days after arriving, a wet dress rehearsal of the launch countdown took place, having both the first and second stages fully loaded with propellant, to prove that rocket-grade kerosene1, liquid methane2, and liquid oxygen3 could be safely loaded following separate tests in previous months. The testing concluded as a success.

What was not performed at the launch pad was a static fire. That did not actually need to be conducted, thanks to two firings of the Long March 10 series static fire test article in August and September 2025 with seven YF-100K engines installed. For those unaware, the Long March 10B’s first-stage is common to other members of the Long March 10 series, being the Long March 10A4 and the Long March 10 Moon rocket5.

After the wet dress rehearsal, the Long March 10B was taken off of Commercial Launch Pad 2 and rolled back to integration facilities. It is expected that the rollback was to retrieve the vehicle’s payload, as it cannot be lifted atop of it on the launch pad and it would be risky to include before it if testing went awry.

At the same time as the rollback, in preparation for flight, hazard notices were filed for a launch flying south-east from the Wenchang Commercial Launch Site between April 28th and 30th. Those notices include a sizable area about 550 kilometers downrange, much closer than expendable vehicles from the site, and indicates where the first-stage booster may be recovered.

A key piece of hardware that will need to be present in the hazard areas for the launch is the autonomous Long March 10 series booster-catching ship ‘Linghangzhe (领航者)’, which took part in a catch simulation with the Long March 10A test booster back on February 11th. At present, the autonomous ship is moored near Shantou (汕头市), Guangdong (广东) province.

When the Long March 10B does launch, it will be the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology’s first attempt at recovering a stage of a partially reusable launch vehicle, as well as the third attempt in China after LandSpace with its Zhuque-3 and Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology’s Long March 12A. It will also be the fifth different Chinese launch vehicle that is planned to be reusable, following the previously mentioned two alongside CAS Space’s Kinetica-2, reusable by 2028, and Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3, to be reusable after a handful of flights.

If the Long March 10B’s first-stage booster is caught on ‘Linghangzhe’, it is unlikely to be reflown. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation at large, will be eager to study how the booster fared during its flight, what systems worked well, and what needs improvement.

In the weeks after the Long March 10B’s flight, a Long March 10A may deliver an experimental lunar satellite on its maiden outing, followed by the Mengzhou-1 mission to the Tiangong Space Station as soon as September. Those three flights, if not more, will all be using near-identical first first-stages6, building flight data ahead of the tri-core Long March 10 Moon rockets’ introduction next year.

At the start of this month, between April 1st and 10th, the U.S. space agency, NASA, flew its Artemis-2 mission around the Moon, carrying four astronauts to lunar space for the first time since Apollo-17 in 1972.

The mission drew global attention while it took place, including from China, which was to be expected, as it was a kind of once-in-a-lifetime event. Of interest for global lunar efforts of the near future is how the mission was reported on in China, as the country is aiming to put taikonauts on the Moon before 2030.

To begin, the mission had a crew, with its four astronauts announced in 2023, being Commander Reid Wiseman, Pilot Victor Glover, and Mission Specialists Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. In writing about the crew, China News Service (中国新闻社) and Guancha (观察者网) were quick to highlight Artemis-2’s diversity and the firsts it will set (first woman in lunar space, via Koch; first person of colour in lunar space, via Glover; and first non-American in lunar space, via Hansen) alongside their previous spaceflight qualifications to be onboard1.

For those who remember, Artemis-2 did not target April as its launch target2 in the months leading up to launch. In September 2025 NASA pulled forward the mission to start in February. Xinhua (新华), in its reporting at the time, shared the agency’s rationale for doing so, while relaying some criticisms of the Orion spacecraft, the Space Launch System rocket, and other systems that are frequently raised in the West3, writing:

“In addition to technical design flaws in the Orion spacecraft, such as its heat shield, life support system4, and escape systems, the Space Launch System, tasked with launching it into orbit, has also been heavily criticized for its delayed development schedule and high costs, and is likely to be replaced by Starship5 in the future.”

Then a series of technical issues began to arise, ultimately delaying the mission to April. In speaking on that, Phoenix TV (凤凰卫视) added that those technical issues were the same ones that postponed Artemis-1 in 2022.

Eventually, on April 1st (April 2nd China Standard Time), the Artemis-2 mission began on the first day of its launch window, putting the Orion spacecraft into its staging orbit for the first day of the mission. Under an hour after liftoff, and not long after Orion was in Earth orbit, Xinhua put out a short piece to announce that, and later in the day had a dedicated feature discussing the importance of Artemis-2 in testing 21st-century American human lunar spaceflight systems ahead of later missions, with additional focus on present astronaut safety systems. Beijing News (新京报), meanwhile, explained why Artemis-2 is just a lunar flyby mission, and how its trajectory differs from Apollo-13’s, instead of landing on the Moon despite the U.S. proving it could do so via the Apollo missions:

“Production lines have disappeared, technological systems have evolved, and a new generation of engineers has taken the reins; the hardware and safety standards of that era can no longer meet today’s requirements. … Conducting unmanned test flights first, followed by crewed lunar orbits, and finally a lunar landing is the accepted, prudent approach in modern spaceflight. This gap of more than fifty years [since Apollo] has effectively brought all nations back to the same starting line.”

The days post launch had a news lull, as the Orion spacecraft was slowly flying out to the Moon. Reports picked up again once in lunar space, primarily around the mission’s distance record of 406,778 kilometers and first-seen views of the illuminated far side with the human eye. Xinhua’s report was published with a handful of incredible images taken by the four astronauts on board. Another piece a day after the record repeated much of what Beijing News said about the mission’s choice to fly around.

Another slowing of news occurred when Orion was en route towards Earth, with the Moon behind it, to conclude the Artemis-2 mission. Reporting of the mission’s conclusion waited until Wiseman, Glover, Koch, and Hansen were outside of their spacecraft and confirmed to be onboard recovery vessels in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California. Xinhua again had its reporting accompanied by wonderful images, this time via NASA’s media teams.

A detailed report after Artemis-2’s conclusion was also published by Xinhua, outlining what the mission achieved. Some notable excerpts are:

“During the flight, the astronauts evaluated key equipment, including the spacecraft’s life support system, radiation sensors, and a new spacesuit. The mission also validated communication systems in deep space, utilizing laser links to transmit data.”

“The astronauts onboard directly observed certain regions of the Moon’s far side. Since the human eye’s ability to discern the Moon’s surface topography and textural features can compensate for the limitations of instrumental observations, offering a completely new perspective for lunar research.”

“Although this mission successfully validated several deep-space technologies and conducted scientific exploration … Clive Neale, a planetary geologist at the University of Notre Dame, commented that ‘the mission’s greatest value lies in public relations’, adding that ‘science is merely an afterthought’ and that political considerations outweigh scientific value.”6

It was also noted before and after the mission in Xinhua reports that future Artemis missions, which aim to land on the lunar surface, are behind schedule due to delays and issues with contracted lunar landers and spacesuits, which were spoken of in passing despite being in a precarious state. Recently, Blue Origin’s New Glenn managed to fly into the complete wrong orbit7 ahead of the delivery of its first lunar landing system, which will build expertise for a crewed system, later this year. SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle, which will have a lunar lander variant, has yet to reach orbit and spent most of 2025 exploding during test flights. On the spacesuit side, one of two providers dropped out, and the other is reportedly in financial difficulty.

Notably, mention of China’s lunar exploration programs, robotic and crewed, were minimal8, with items like the Queqiao-2 relay satellite brought up briefly in reference to a communications blackout during the lunar flyby. No reports recognized the U.S.’ perception of a so-called new space race, which China doesn’t care about.

If there are any problems with this pieces’ translations please reach out and correct me.

On April 15th the Financial Times alleged, based on leaked documents, that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force was utilizing the TEE-01B satellite1 to hit U.S. and Israeli military forces and assets in the Middle East, and communicating with the satellite via ground stations owned by Emposat (航天驭星).

Recently, Emposat, a satellite tracking, telemetry, and control enterprise in China’s commercial space sector, denied any knowledge of Iran utilizing its ground stations in statements via its website and WeChat blog. Part of that statement relevant to the allegation reads:

“Our global network of ground stations is entirely under our own control and operated independently. We have never granted any third-party access, usage rights, or control over our ground station network. … Upon learning of the relevant reports, our company took immediate action and launched an investigation into the matter. After verification, we hereby solemnly declare that we have no cooperation whatsoever with the military entities and related companies mentioned in the reports, nor have we ever cooperated with the ‘Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ or any other military-related entities.”

If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.

Emposat also added that they are committed to following China’s relevant export laws and the continued peaceful use of outer space. Additionally, Reuters has reported that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (中华人民共和国外交部) and embassy in Washington D.C. denied any state links to the claimed activity.

Meanwhile, Earth Eye Co (沐美星空), operator and owner of TEE-01B, are yet to release a statement, having gone since June 2024 without putting out any news items. TEE-01B also remains the company’s sole satellite.

Related to that, Earth Eye Co, received a license to sell data and images collected from the satellite shortly after its launch. Specifically, the Chinese authorities expected it to collect information for crop census’, geographical mapping, and the imaging of regions after natural disasters.

At present, Emposat communicates with its own satellites and those for paying customers via its sites in Beijing (北京), Xi’an (西安)2, Zhengzhou (郑州)3, Zhongwei (中卫), Qitaihe (七台河)4, Jinghe (精河)5, Hebi (鹤壁)6, as well as those aboard in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, and the South Pacific. Part of the enterprise’s product line includes mobile satellite communication stations.

One and a half years on from its contract award and almost three weeks after its launch, the Qingzhou (轻舟) cargo spacecraft’s testing in orbit is proceeding well, for systems running the spacecraft and experiments within it.

According to the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院微小卫星创新研究院), who developed the 4,200-kilogram spacecraft, in the days after launch Qingzhou brought itself into a circular 600-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit, out of its 604 by 217-kilometer deployment orbit, where it will reside for around three years1. That maneuver verified the spacecraft’s guidance and control systems and the performance of its thrusters.

In that orbit, Qingzhou released three satellites, between April 2nd and 3rd, attached to it during launch, one where its docking port would be and two next to its main propulsion system. One of those satellites, Xinzhengcheng-01 (新征程01卫星), performed rendezvous operations with the cargo spacecraft, coming within 5 kilometers of it2, ahead of its planned remote sensing technology tests.

Within the Qingzhou spacecraft, twenty-seven experiments are taking place, some part of system tests. Experiments mentioned by the Microsatellite Academy were microgravity metal manufacturing tests, an active vibration isolation system, a laser inertial measurement unit, a spacecraft-to-spacecraft communications module3, an autonomous proximity monitoring and retreat system, as well as new materials for the spacecraft’s structures and solar panels. Those within the spacecraft weigh 1,020 kilograms and are stowed in cargo containers, which can be climate-controlled.

A handful of experiments being focused on by Chinese outlets as part of Qingzhou’s first mission are medical research projects from the Shenzhen University of Advanced Technology (深圳理工大学) to take the first step for what they call a ‘space hospital’. Two experimental devices being tested in microgravity are an ultraviolet non-invasive phototherapy device, hope to promote vitamin D synthesis to prevent bone loss during human spaceflight, and a plasma therapeutic device, aimed at assisting the wound healing process that is slowed by microgravity.

Back on Earth, learnings from the first Qingzhou mission are being incorporated into a second spacecraft, said to already be in production, that may head to the Tiangong Space Station. The second mission may launch on another Kinetica-2, should CAS Space meet cadence goals, but the door remains open to alternative launch solutions.

At present, the Microsatellite Academy’s efforts with the Qingzhou spacecraft have been impressive since its October 2024 contract award from the China Manned Space Agency. A comparable U.S. spacecraft to that is Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, which took four years and eight months to go from award to a first orbital mission, which went straight to the International Space Station.

2

Here is Qingzhou as seen by Xinzhengcheng-01 at that distance:

Off of Launch Site 94 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, a Long March 4C lifted off and flew towards sun-synchronous orbit at 12:10 pm China Standard Time (04:10 am Universal Coordinated Time) on April 17th, carrying an environmental monitoring satellite.

The environmental monitoring satellite being launched was Daqi-2 (大气二号), also known as ‘High-Precision Integrated Greenhouse Gas Observation Satellite (高精度温室气体综合探测卫星)‘, developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and planned to operate for seven years. As the satellite’s longer name suggests, it is tasked with measuring and monitoring gases that warm Earth’s atmosphere via five onboard instruments:

• Atmospheric Detection Lidar (大气探测激光雷达)

• Cloud and Aerosol Imager (云和气溶胶成像仪)

• Wide-Swath Hyperspectral Greenhouse Gas Monitor (宽幅高光谱温室气体监测仪)

• Infrared Hyperspectral Atmospheric Composition Detector (红外高光谱大气成分探测仪)

• Ultraviolet Hyperspectral Atmospheric Composition Detector (紫外高光谱大气成分探测仪)1

Daqi-2 is the second satellite in its line, joining April 2022-launched Daqi-1 (大气一号), which will end operations in 2030. That satellite is most well known for beaming a green laser over Hawai’i in January 2023. According to the United Nations Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review Tool, both satellites are managed under the Gaofen (高分) remote sensing spacecraft system. Working in tandem, the two satellites are planned to:

“[Provide] technical support for ecological and environmental management, including global climate change research, energy conservation and emissions reduction, environmental diplomacy and treaty compliance, and pollution control.”

If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.

For today’s launch mission, the Long March 4C’s 3.8-meter-diameter payload fairing was stated to have been improved to a new composite material variant. That reduced its mass, increased structural strength, and slightly improved space for payloads within.

Today’s launch was the 59th mission for the Long March 4C, the 117th launch for the Long March 4 series, the 263rd Long March vehicle launch from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and the 638th launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. This was also the 24th launch from China in 2026.

Liftoff video via 大漠问天 and 我们的太空 on WeChat.

Subscribe now

Check out the previous Long March 4C launch

What is the Long March 4C?

This section is for those less familiar with China’s Long March series of launch vehicles.

The Long March 4C is another older generation low Earth and sun-synchronous orbit workhorse of the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. All three stages of the rocket burn Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine, with the third-stage capable of engine restart.

The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:

• 4,200 kilograms to low Earth orbit

• 2,800 kilograms to a sun-synchronous orbit

• 1,500 kilograms to a geostationary transfer orbit

The first-stage is powered by four YF-21C engines, which generate 302 tons of thrust, burning Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine. The second-stage is powered by a single YF-22C engine and four YF-23C verniers that generate 80 tons of thrust while also burning Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine. The third-stage is propelled by two YF-40A engines that provide 10 tons of thrust by once again burning Dinitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine.

On the launch pad, the Long March 4C is 45.9 meters tall and weighs 249,200 kilograms when fully fuelled. The first and second-stage have a diameter of 3.35 meters, while the third-stage has a diameter of 2.9 meters, and a fairing diameter of 3.8 meters.

So far, the Long March 4C has flown from all three inland launch sites, the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, and the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

A month and a few hours after their previous spacewalk, the Shenzhou-21 taikonauts performed their third spacewalk outside of the Tiangong Space Station. Like the previous two spacewalks, Zhang Hongzhang (张洪章)1 remained inside the station, supporting crewmates Wu Fei (武飞)2, in the blue suit, and Zhang Lu (张陆)3, in the red suit, for their tasks.

Continuing a trend for Tiangong spacewalks, the two taikonauts, supported by the station’s robotic arm and teams on Earth, installed space debris protection devices to protect areas deemed at risk and critical to long-term use of the orbiting laboratory, for today those areas were on the Mengtian module. The Tianhe, Wentian, and Mengtian modules were inspected for damage and anomalies while Zhang and Wu were outside, as is routine now.

Those activities reportedly took place over five and a half hours, starting and finishing from the Wentiang module’s airlock. The spacewalk was declared concluded at 01:36 am China Standard Time on April 17th (17:36 pm Universal Coordinated Time on April 16th), having started just after 20:00 pm in the Chinese evening the day before (after 10:00 am Universal Coordinated Time on the same day).

By participating in the recent spacewalk, Zhang Lu has now performed his seventh extravehicular activity in his career, surpassing Chen Dong’s (陈冬) six4 to become China’s most experienced spacewalker, with a total time outside of about forty-seven and a half hours. Meanwhile, Wu Fei was performing his third, bringing his cumulative time outside the space station to around twenty hours.

As of a few days ago, with the release of a new episode of ‘Tiangong TV’, it was expected that the three taikonauts would return to Earth within the next four weeks, in early May, once the Shenzhou-23 mission arrives. With the spacewalk, the China Manned Space Agency announced that the crew will spend around another month, returning in early June, onboard Tiangong, writing:

“To further advance the verification of technologies critical to long-duration crewed missions in orbit and to fully leverage the comprehensive benefits of Shenzhou-22’s emergency launch5 capability for resupplying the space station, following meticulous deliberation and assessment, it is planned to extend the crew’s on-orbit stay by approximately one month.”

If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.

Long-duration crewed missions are an area of additional focus for the China Manned Space Agency this year, with plans to have one taikonaut from the Shenzhou-23 mission spending twelve months on orbit, returning with the Shenzhou-24 crew. That stay is enabling a visit by a Pakistani astronaut later this year.

It also noted that the Shenzhou-21 crew are currently healthy onboard Tiangong, along with visiting vehicles of Shenzhou-22 and Tianzhou-9. The space station’s next cargo resupply mission, Tianzhou-10, is believed to be working towards a May launch.

Almost seven weeks ago, the United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran to start another Middle Eastern war, coming after earlier joint efforts in June 2025. Two weeks into the conflict, the U.S. declared that it had achieved ‘space superiority’, taking out Iran’s domestic orbiting assets and capabilities to support them. However, that hasn’t stopped Iran from obtaining information from space.

According to a report from the Financial Times on April 15th, China-based Earth Eye Co (沐美星空), full business name Beijing Mumei Starry Sky Technology Co Ltd (北京沐美星空科技有限公司), reached an agreement with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Aerospace Force to use a satellite and ground stations owned by Emposat (航天驭星), a Chinese satellite tracking, telemetry, and control company. Both enterprises operate within China’s commercial space sector.

The satellite used by the Guard Corps is claimed to be TEE-01B (地球之眼1号卫星), a 112-kilogram remote sensing satellite with a resolution of 52 centimeters in panchromatic mode or 208 centimeters in multispectral mode per pixel in a 14.8-kilometer swath image, launched in June 2024 by Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1. Access to TEE-01B was said to have come via an on-orbit delivery agreement, a service the company does offer to hand over a satellite once its systems a verfied to be healthy.

The total paid by the Guard Corps to Earth Eye Co as part of the agreement to use TEE-01B and Emposat ground stations was stated to be around 250 million Yuan (36.66 million United States Dollars, as of April 15th), an impressive bounty for just one tiny spacecraft. That deal was closed in September 2024, almost eighteen months before the current conflight began.

As for what TEE-01B is up to for its Iranian operators, the Financial Times stated it has been imaging military sites across the Middle East that house or support U.S. and Israeli forces, per leaked information obtained by the outlet, as well as industrial infrastructure. Those images are then used to analyze struck locations with before and after photographs.

As for why the Guard Corps would obtain a Chinese-made satellite that communicates through non-Iranian ground stations, a former CIA analyst told the outlet:

“Iran’s satellite ground stations, which were hit in 2025 and 2026, can be hit very easily by missiles from a thousand miles away. You can’t just hit a Chinese ground station located in another country.”

That is in addition to more direct support from Russian forces.

What the Financial Times missed in its reporting is that TEE-01B was produced by Changguang Satellite Technology Co Ltd (长光卫星技术股份有限公司), of the Jilin-1 (吉林一号) Earth imaging constellation, for Earth Eye Co to do what they wanted with it. Changguang Satellite Technology themselves have already come under fire from the U.S., having been sanctioned in 2023 for allegedly selling imagery to Russia’s Wagner Group and then to Yemen’s Houthis in 2025.

Following the Financial Times’ piece, Reuters reported that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (中华人民共和国外交部) and embassy in Washington D.C. denied any state links to the claimed activity.

Since this latest conflict in the Middle East began, U.S. Earth imaging firms like Planet Labs and Vantor (formerly Maxar) have indefinitely halted their publishing of imagery of the region due to pressures from the American government, likely to hide the extent of damage from retaliatory strikes. That pressure did not stop intelligence firms, like those of the Shanghai-based MizarVision (觅熵), from buying imagery from other Western entities and then publishing that imagery. Meanwhile STAR.VISION Aerospace (地卫二空间技术) utilized the halt in imagery to make its regular Middle Eastern imagery free to subscribers of its services.

Iran’s use of imagery from Earth Eye Co and others has surprised the U.S. Space Force, making the American military at large adjust how it operates now knowing that they can be seen anytime and anywhere. As quoted by Defense One, Head of U.S. Space Command General Stephen Whiting told press at Colorado’s Space Symposium conference:

“Every country, just about today, can somehow access space imagery, which then gives them an insight on what’s going on in the battlefield … We have to recognize that the rest of the world can now see the entire planet transparently and almost 24/7.”

General Whiting’s comments come almost two months after Lieutenant General Gregory Gagnon, head of the U.S. Space Force’s Combat Forces Command, outlined that America is looking into attacking Chinese spacecraft, specifically citing a so-called threat from remote sensing satellites.

In the first half of April, SpaceTY (天仪研究院)1 and Yunyao Aerospace (云遥宇航)2, two commercial enterprises that have worked together as recently as September 2025, have completed separate new capital raises with a combined total of over 1.8 billion Yuan (263.9 million United States Dollars, as of April 13th) for improving Earth imaging capabilities.

Reported on April 10th by Eastmoney (东方财富), SpaceTY has raised 1.3 billion Yuan (190.6 million United States Dollars) via the sale of company shares to several capital firms and investment enterprises, said to have demonstrated continued market confidence in the company. The new capital raised will be used to upgrade SpaceTY’s existing capabilities through three focus areas:

1. Deepening expertise in satellite manufacturing to enable spacecraft mass production and affordability.

2. Accelerating the commercialization of spacecraft data services, while exploring industry-specific applications, and expanding relevant partnerships.

3. Increasing coordination through spacecraft manufacturing, management, and utilization for end-to-end spacecraft solutions3.

Investor confidence was claimed to have come from the ‘mastering’ of synthetic aperture radar imaging satellites, able to utilize interferometric synthetic aperture radar techniques to detect millimeter-level changes of an imaged environment. Additionally, related onboard computing and laser communication links enable greater spacecraft data services. Some satellites to demonstrate those technologies were launched in May 2025.

The confidence also comes despite U.S. sanctions in place since February 2023 for allegedly selling imagery to the Russian Wagner Group, which has limited the company’s operations in the West. Changguang Satellite Technology Co Ltd (长光卫星技术股份有限公司), a similar satellite imaging enterprise, was hit with the same allegations later the same year.

A week earlier, on April 3rd, Yunyao Aerospace completed its ‘B+’ funding round, raising over 500 million Yuan (73.3 million United States Dollars) from a variety of provincial, municipal, and market investment vehicles. One of those was directed by the government of Huishan (惠山区) district, Wuxi (无锡市), Jiangsu (江苏) province, after the company opened a local subsidiary.

With the new funding, Yunyao Aerospace plans to improve the capabilities of its synthetic aperture radar imaging instruments while bringing more of the enabling systems and technologies into internal development and production, which will be used to explore new data-based services for collected information. Part of the capital will also be used to launch further satellites for the company’s GNSS radio occultation-based meteorological constellation.

That constellation will eventually consist of ninety spacecraft in low Earth and sun-synchronous orbit, designed to be small, lightweight, and easy to proliferate for greater accuracy. Since the start of 2025, at least thirty-four existing satellites4 in the constellation have been providing data to the China Meteorological Administration (中国气象局) to improve national weather forecasting.

Meanwhile, Changguang Satellite Technology Co Ltd expanded its Jilin-1 (吉林一号) constellation on April 14th with eight more satellites. A post-launch statement mentioned, for the first time, that the Earth imaging satellites are now capable of targeting and capturing images of other spacecraft in orbit, almost seven months after announcing intent to develop needed systems.

At 12:03 pm China Standard Time (04:03 Universal Coordinated Time) on April 14th, CAS Space’s Kinetica-1 launch vehicle blasted off from Launch Area 130 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, heading towards sun-synchronous orbit with a handful of satellites.

Those satellites were eight in total and from Changguang Satellite Technology Co Ltd (长光卫星技术股份有限公司), commonly shortened to CGSTL, to expand its Jilin-1 (吉林一号) Earth imaging constellation. Satellites being delivered today were:

• Jilin Gaofen-07A02 (吉星高分07A02星).

• Jilin Gaofen-07A03 (吉星高分07A03星), also known as Postal Savings Bank Satellite (邮储银行号卫星).

• Jilin Gaofen-07A04 (吉星高分07A04星).

• Jilin Gaofen-07B02 (吉星高分07B02星).

• Jilin Gaofen-07B03 (吉星高分07B03星).

• Jilin Gaofen-07B04 (吉星高分07B04星).

• Jilin Gaofen-07C02 (吉星高分07C02星).

• Jilin Gaofen-07C03 (吉星高分07C03星).

Those satellites, similar to three aboard the previous Kinetica-1, have a resolution of about 0.5 meters alongside onboard AI-assisted processing. That enables them to provide a wide variety of images to customers for various uses, including non-Earth target imaging as a new capability. CGSTL’s Jilin-1 constellation had non-Earth imaging tested in September 2025, possibly in response to an American firm's imaging of Shijian-26 (实践二十六号), before beginning development of relevant hardware a month later.

One of the eight satellites, Jilin Gaofen-07A03, is part of a cooperation with the Postal Savings Bank of China (中国邮政储蓄银行). The cooperation is stated to be for exploring integrations of ‘finance and space’ with the monitoring of relevant international projects, farmland, new energy infrastructures, and nature reserves to improve the bank’s services.

After the conclusion of today’s launch mission, CAS Space was keen to mention via its WeChat blog that the launch vehicle can be assembled and prepared for launch in a short time, while being customized to meet customer needs. Via Twitter, the company mentioned that ten Kinetica-1’s are being produced per year.

The Kinetica-1 launch vehicle flying today also featured artwork to promote the idea of an ecological civilization, where humanity and nature coexist harmoniously, and made in China science and technology, using today’s mission as an example of self-reliance.

Today’s launch was the 12th launch for Kinetica-1, and the 13th for CAS Space through its Kinetica family of launch vehicles. This was also the 23rd launch from China in 2026.

Liftoff video via 大漠问天 and 我们的太空 on WeChat.

Subscribe now

Check out previous launches from CAS Space

What is Kinetica-1?

This section is for those less familiar with China’s various commercial launch vehicles.

Kinetica-1 is CAS Space’s first launch vehicle and consists of four stages, all burning solid fuel. CAS Space offers the ability to launch a single satellite to utilize all of the rocket’s payload capacity, however more ‘rideshare’ missions occur for multiple satellites to be delivered in one launch.

The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:

• 2,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit

• 1,500 kilograms to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit

The first-stage is powered by a solid rocket booster that burns an unspecified solid fuel, generating 200 tons of thrust. The second-stage is also powered by a solid rocket booster, producing 110 tons of thrust with the same unidentified propellant. The-third stage, also using the undisclosed propellant, generates 45 tons of thrust. Finally, the fourth-stage is powered by another solid rocket booster, providing 8 tons of thrust with the same solid propellant.

On its launch pad, Kinetica-1 stands at 30 meters tall. The first two stages have a diameter of 2.65 meters, the fairing has a diameter of either 2.65 or 3.35 meters. When prepared for launch Kinetica-1 weighs a believed 135,000 kilograms.

So far, Kinetica-1 has flown all of its missions from CAS Space’s launch facility at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

Attached below is a translated transcript of the newest episode:

The Shenzhou-21 crew is busy carrying out their daily tasks and methodically advancing various space science experiments, the three taikonauts are also carefully taking care of the space station and continuously safeguarding their own health.

In the field of space medicine, the crew used a space-based Raman spectrometer to analyze metabolic components in urine samples. The data collected will be used to further refine and improve the system of characteristic metabolite indicators and evaluation criteria. The three taikonauts also collected and froze saliva samples, which will be analyzed upon return to Earth to assist researchers in conducting studies on digestive and intestinal function.

Last week, in accordance with the planned experiments on metabolic interaction regulation, space omics, and space sleep and sleep, the crew completed the collection of blood samples, processed them using a centrifuge, and properly stored them for return. In addition, the three taikonauts used laptops and related experimental software to complete tests on several projects, including cognitive monitoring research, emergency decision-making capability assessment, and on-orbit emotional state tests.

Regarding the field of microgravity physics, experimental projects are proceeding as planned. The crew replaced samples in the fluid physics experiment cabinet, replaced the burner and gas cylinders in the combustion science experiment cabinet, and completed tasks such as cleaning samples in the containerless experiment chamber, maintaining the motors of the mechanism, and cleaning the porthole cover lenses.

As part of their routine maintenance of the space station complex, the Shenzhou-21 crew completed scheduled inspections and maintenance of in-cabin facilities and equipment, including cryogenic storage units, application fluid loop pumps, and life support system equipment. They also organized supplies and cleaned the cabin, continuing to ensure a habitable environment in their space home.

Additionally, the three taikonauts continue to manage their health, using equipment such as space treadmills and resistance bands to exercise in orbit and actively counteract the physiological effects of microgravity.

After more than 160 days in orbit, the Shenzhou-21 crew is in good health, working seamlessly together and displaying great enthusiasm for their work.

If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.

Tiangong TV Episode April 12th 2026 originally from the China Manned Space Agency, cloned to YouTube for archival.

Two weeks ago, CAS Space successfully debuted its tri-core Kinetica-2 launch vehicle, with a mission departing the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center to place a prototype Qingzhou (轻舟) cargo spacecraft into orbit. Following the flight, Chinese media have been keen to talk to engineers and executives at the company, with insightful reports coming as a result.

A day after the successful launch, China Internet Information Center (中国互联网新闻中心) spoke with Yang Haoliang (楊浩亮), Kinetica-2’s General Commander, and Lian Jie (廉潔), Kinetica-2’s Deputy Chief Designer, to understand the launch vehicle’s path to obtaining reusable first-stages, something CAS Space aims to have by 2028. Yang was quick to highlight that Kinetica-2 will have an ‘iterative’ approach to integrating and proving reusable rocket technologies, telling the outlet:

“On the third launch, we will install our full grid-fin system to control our aerodynamic reentry. Over subsequent missions, the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh launches, we will integrate our [Kinecore] technologies, including multiple engine firings, thrust control, and overall cluster recovery. We are striving to achieve complete first-stage recovery in our tenth mission.”

If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.

That statement is absent of dates, but the company has previously said that Kinetica-2 launch vehicles produced within the first two years of operation (2026 and 2027) won’t be recovered, but will have a gradual introduction of reusable rocket technologies1. Characterizing and some testing of relevant technologies will be assisted by the suborbital Lihong (力鸿) rockets.

Assuming that the tenth flight would occur around two years from Kinetica-2’s debut mission, as the company has hoped, CAS Space will need to have a vehicle ready to fly every two and a half months on average2. So long as enough vehicles are produced, company launch teams have proven fast turnarounds between flights already3.

Kinetica-2’s production and flight rate is an area Lian Jie is especially focused on, telling China Internet Information Center:

“In the future, we will focus on two key areas: first, the production cycle [of Kinetica-2] and the supporting systems cycle [(launch pad and integration facilities)]; second, the key focus is on the reliability and stability of our rocket products. … [Once there is routine production of Kinetica-2, work] in the technical area can be reduced to ten to fifteen days, and the overall launch cycle, including the time spent in the launch area, can be shortened to less than a week.”

In the near future, CAS Space says it will be able to produce twenty Kinetica-2 launch vehicles per year, once its new ‘super factory’ opens in Shaoxing (绍兴市), Zhejiang (浙江) province, to complement existing sites around Guangzhou (广州市), Guangdong (广东) province.

In another interview, with China Daily (中国日报), Lian repeated that Kinetica-2’s first-stage’s common booster cores land as a single unit when flying in a tri or penta core configuration, claimed to reduce needed parts, vehicle complexity, and costs. With that approach, the Deputy Chief Designer shared that Kinetica-2 missions could cost half of that of SpaceX’s partially reusable Falcon 9, at 252.5 million Yuan (37 million United States Dollars)4, once first-stage reuse is understood. A CGTN report states that Kinetica-2’s costs to customers are already comparable to Falcon 9. If so, the launch vehicle would already be competing with the state-run Long March series on costs too.

Near Yangjiang (阳江市), Guangdong (广东) province, a Jielong-3 blasted off from a dedicated launch ship from the South China Sea at 19:32 pm China Standard Time (11:32 am Universal Coordinated Time) on April 11th, flying towards sun-synchronous orbit with a single payload.

Atop of the vehicle was just one Weixing Hulianwang Jishu Shiyan (卫星互联网技术试验卫星), translating to Satellite Internet Technology Experimental Satellite, for testing upgrades to China’s space-based connectivity mega-constellations. Development of the test satellite was handled by the China Academy of Space Technology.

Any breakthroughs made with the satellite will primarily be applied to the Central Government-supported GuoWang (国网) mega-constellation. With today’s launch, twenty-five test satellites have been launched since 2021.

Designs of recent test satellites are not known, but they are likely similar to operational GuoWang spacecraft, which has limited details confirmed.

In their post-launch blog post, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology was keen to highlight that this Jielong-3 mission came within twenty days of the last, flying from the Yellow Sea on March 22nd. That fast turnaround was said to have been enabled by parallel launch campaigns being run out of preparation facilities at the Haiyang Oriental Spaceport (海阳东方航天港), in Shandong (山东) province.

Upgrades and new capabilities were noted by the Launch Vehicle Academy too, revealing that they plan to improve Jielong-3’s first-stage and fourth-stage to improve the vehicle’s capabilities, likely to carry up to 2,000 kilograms. Today’s launch was claimed to have flown Jielong-3 into its highest orbital altitude to date, with the Launch Vehicle Academy writing:

“This mission marks the highest orbital altitude and the most challenging deorbit maneuver in the history of Jielong-3 rocket launches. To address this, the development team meticulously designed control parameters and optimized the deorbiting attitude to ensure a reliable departure.”

If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.

A day after launch, Jielong-3’s fourth stage was tracked and catalogued in an orbit peaking at 1,002 kilometers. Before that, the highest point for a launch mission the launch vehicle had reached was 656 kilometers.

Today’s launch was the 11th mission for the Jielong-3 launch vehicle. This was also the 22nd launch from China in 2026.

Liftoff footage via 我们的太空 on WeChat.

Subscribe now

Check out the previous Jielong-3 launch

What is Jielong-3?

This section is for those less familiar with China’s various commercial launch vehicles.

Jielong-3, also referred to as Smart Dragon-3, is a four-stage solid-fueled launch vehicle manufactured by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. The vehicle is operated commercially via a wholly-owned subsidiary of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology called China Rocket. All four stages are believed to burn an unspecified solid propellant, with the first-stage generating 200 tons of thrust.

The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:

• 1,600 kilograms to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronus orbit.

On a launch platform, Jielong-3 is believed to be 31 meters tall. Details about the four stages of the vehicle are scarce but the first two stages have a diameter of 2.64 meters, with the fairing having a diameter of 3.35 meters. When prepared for launch Jielong-3 weighs a believed 145,000 kilograms.

So far Jielong-3 has flown from sea launch platforms in the East China Sea, South China Sea, and Yellow Sea.