Long March 6A launches third batch of satellites from the Thousand Sails constellation

HELSINKI – China launched the third batch of 18 satellites for the Thousand Sails constellation late Tuesday, as the company behind the project aims for global services in 2025.

A Long March 6A rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern China at 11:41 p.m. Eastern time (0441 UTC, December 5) on December 4. The state-run Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) announced the successful launch hours later, after all payloads were stationed in their designated polar orbits.

On board were 18 flat-screen satellites for the Thousand Sails mega-constellation, which were intended to provide communications services in low-Earth orbit. The project is led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST). The project is sometimes referred to as Qianfan and G60 Starlink. The launch followed previous satellite launches from the Thousand Sails/Qianfan constellation in August and October this year.

The satellites were developed by the Shanghai Microsatellite Engineering Center and are the first generation of Thousand Sails satellites.

Spacesail wants to build a constellation of 14,000 satellites, with the goal of having around 600 satellites in orbit by the end of 2025. SSST has received significant support, securing approximately $943 million in funding in early 2024.

The company recently reached an agreement with Brazil that will see Spacesail begin providing services to the county in 2026. The move follows a dispute between Brazil and Elon Musk’s social media platform X. The matter led to Brazil’s Supreme Court temporarily freezing Starlink’s bank accounts in the country.

The Long March 6A, developed by SAST, is the first and so far only Chinese launch vehicle to combine a liquid-propellant core stage with solid-propellant side boosters. It is capable of carrying 4,500 kilograms of payload to a sun-synchronous orbit of 700 kilometers

Despite successful launches, the rocket had problems with its upper stage fragmenting. The launch, carrying the first 18 Qianfan satellites, disintegrated in a cloud believed to contain more than 700 pieces of orbital debris. SAST has not yet responded to requests for comment. The satellites from the previous launch in October have yet to be cataloged by the US Space Force’s Space Domain Awareness.

There are also concerns about the apparent brightness of the Qianfan satellites and their potential impact on astronomy.

The launch was China’s 62nd orbital launch attempt in 2024. It is China’s fifth launch since November 27, when the first improved Zhuque-2 rocket took off from Jiuquan in northwest China. This was followed by two experimental satellites on the first Long March 12, the launch of the probable early warning satellite TJS-13 on the 100th Long March 3B, and the launch of the first improved solid rocket Kuaizhou-1A from Xichang.

China’s national record for launch attempts in a calendar year is 67, set in 2023. The country had announced that it would undertake around 100 launch attempts in 2024.

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