Qianfan's Seventh Satellite Group Deployed Following Second Hiatus Period [Long March 8]
The Shanghai-backed internet connectivity constellation has finally had another launch, with eighteen more satellites placed into Earth orbit.
From Commercial Launch Pad 1 at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site, a Long March 8 lifted off at 21:32 pm China Standard Time (13:32 pm Universal Coordinated Time) on April 7th, flying towards a near-polar orbit with a group of internet satellites.
Atop of the vehicle were eighteen Qianfan satellites for the constellations ‘Polar Group 07’ produced by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院微小卫星创新研究院), also its seventh overall since deployments began in August 2024. This launch brings the constellation’s total spacecraft count up to 126, following an almost seven-month gap in deployments, likely to allow for an observation period of fixes implemented before producing more operational satellites.
Each Qianfan satellite is believed to weigh 300 kilograms with a ‘flat pack’ design, with a single solar array, to fit as many satellites as possible inside the rocket fairing in two parallel stacks. 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.
The Qianfan (千帆) mega-constellation, sometimes referred to as SpaceSail, is operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies Co Ltd (上海垣信卫星科技有限公司), aims to provide space-based internet connectivity services in China and abroad in places like Brazil, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, and via airlines. 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, with 15,000 satellites approved to operate.
Today’s Long March 8 launch mission also doubled as a return-to-flight of its 3-meter-diameter liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen second-stage, powered by two YF-75 engines. In mid-January, the stage failed during ascent into orbit for a Long March 3B/E flight. With this launch, the Long March 3A, Long March 3B/E, Long March 3C/E, and Long March 7A should be cleared to resume missions, as those vehicles share the stage for their third-stage. The Long March 3B/E may return later this month.
This launch of the Long March 8 was the first in thirteen months, also carrying a Qianfan group. While today’s variant of the Long March 8 hasn’t been flying, the upgraded Long March 8A has flown seven times, all deploying GuoWang (国网) connectivity mega-constellation satellites. According to China Central Television (中国中央电视台), the Long March 8 series of launch vehicles, including the Long March 8 and 8A, is set to fly fifteen times in total this year, for twelve more flights over the next eight months. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology says that mission preparation times have been significantly reduced to enable a high flight rate.
Today’s launch was the 5th launch of the Long March 8, the 13th launch of the Long March 8 series, and the 636th launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. This was also the 20th launch from China in 2026.
Liftoff footage via International Rocket Launches on YouTube.
Check out the previous Long March 8 series launch
What is the Long March 8?
This section is for those less familiar with China’s Long March series of launch vehicles.
The Long March 8 is poised to be a low Earth orbit workhorse for missions flying from Wenchang, with it being developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. This vehicle utilizes a two-and-a-half-stage design and is fueled by rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen in its first-stage and boosters along with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the second-stage.
The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:
8,100 kilograms to low Earth orbit
5,000 kilograms to a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit
2,800 kilograms to geostationary transfer orbit
1,500 kilograms to a trans-lunar trajectory
The Long March 8’s boosters and first-stage are powered by YF-100 engines, with two engines on the first stage and one on each of the two boosters, generating a combined thrust of 490 tons at liftoff. The second-stage is equipped with two YF-75 engines which produce 17 tons of thrust.
On the launchpad, the Long March 8 stands at 50.34 meters tall and weighs 356,000 kilograms when fully fuelled. The first-stage has a diameter of 3.35 meters, the two boosters have a diameter of 2.25 meters, while the second-stage has a diameter of 3 meters, and the fairing has a believed diameter of 4.2 meters.
So far the Long March 8 has only flown from the Wenchang Space Launch Site and the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site, on the east coast of Hainan province.
