appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Ling Xin

China’s Qianfan network has hit a national milestone by placing over 200 broadband satellites in orbit, but there are concerns its deployment could be too slow and costly.
The constellation now has 201 satellites after a successful launch on board a Zhuque-2E rocket from the Gobi Desert at 4.23pm Beijing time on Tuesday.
The mission delivered Qianfan DTC-01 – a direct-to-cell test satellite – alongside a satellite from China Mobile, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The flight followed back-to-back launches last Thursday and Friday from Taiyuan in central China and the new spaceport in southernmost Hainan, each sending 18 Qianfan satellites into orbit.
Despite the quickening pace, the Starlink challenger’s roll-out still lags behind official targets.
A source working at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre said Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST) – the company behind Qianfan – had sent a delegation to watch Tuesday’s launch.
“They seem to be under a lot of pressure,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
“If the company can’t ramp up its launch schedule, the project might just fall through.”

When the first of the Qianfan satellites lifted off in 2024, SSST said it aimed to deploy 648 of them by the end of 2025 to provide regional coverage.
The company also planned to have roughly 1,300 satellites operational by 2027, before building up to a final fleet of more than 15,000 by 2030.
Its launch schedule froze for seven months last year, partly due to competition for rockets with GuoWang, a state-sponsored broadband constellation with a similar scale.
More broadly, the slow deployment highlights China’s lack of an operational reusable rocket to match the high flight frequency of Falcon 9, Starlink’s workhorse launcher.
In a CCTV interview on Monday, Hu Haiying, chief commander of the Qianfan satellite system, said the goals of the project had been adjusted and it now aimed to have 324 satellites up and running by July.
Each satellite costs over 10 million yuan (US$1.5 million) to manufacture, according to Hu, who also heads the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ microsatellite academy in Shanghai.
That price tag makes Qianfan a luxury compared to its US rival. For roughly the same weight, SpaceX built its first-generation Starlink satellites for just US$250,000 each.
Even for its much larger, second-generation models, analysts estimated SpaceX’s production costs only top out at around US$1 million apiece.
According to public financial data, SSST’s annual losses quadrupled from 203 million yuan in 2022 to 811 million yuan in 2024, racking up a total loss of about 2 billion yuan over the past four years.
Meanwhile, the company rolled out plans in March to raise an additional 5 billion to 6 billion yuan following a record-breaking 6.7 billion yuan funding round in 2024, pushing its valuation well past the 400 billion yuan mark, financial data showed.


Starlink rival Qianfan hits satellite milestone, but is it too slow and costly?

Scientists find woolly mammoth DNA while digging through squirrel faeces

China delivers first samples collected from far side of the moon to Russian scientists

China’s rail gun milestone: guided projectile prototype passes real firing test

Science

A Long March-12B Y1 rocket blasts off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone on June 1, carrying satellites for the Qianfan constellation. Photo: Xinhua

The company behind Qianfan now aims to have 324 satellites up and running by July. Photo: Xinhua

SMILE in space: China, EU joint planet defence satellite defies earthly tensions

A rocket carrying the SMILE satellite blasts off from a launch centre in French Guiana on May 19. Photo: Handout via Xinhua

Members of staff track the launch at the Kourou launch centre. Photo: Xinhua

US weighs offensive space tactics as China satellite rivalry intensifies

China’s PLA has more than 500 ISR satellites and has practised targeting US ports, ships and airfields using space-linked “kill chains”, analyst says. Photo: Shutterstock

Has the Qianfan satellite network – China’s Starlink rival – run into trouble?

China’s Qianfan broadband network, also known as the Thousand Sails Constellation, is projected to have 648 satellites in low Earth orbit by the end of 2025, but so far has deployed just 90. Photo: CCTV

News

China

Constellation now has 201 satellites in orbit but the company is said to be under pressure to ramp up launches


Constellation now has 201 satellites in orbit but the company is said to be under pressure to ramp up launches.


Shanghai

CCTV

SpaceX

Starlink rival Qianfan hits satellite milestone, but is it too slow and costly?

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Constellation now has 201 satellites in orbit but the company is said to be under pressure to ramp up launches

Constellation now has 201 satellites in orbit but the company is said to be under pressure to ramp up launches