(Credit: Anton Petrus via Getty Images)
China is looking at operating a staggering 200,000-satellite constellation, dwarfing SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet system by about four times.
Late last month, a newly formed Chinese institute filed the request with the International Telecommunications Union, the global regulator that oversees radio frequency allocation for satellite providers. China's Institute of Radio Spectrum Utilization and Technological Innovation submitted two filings for the CTC-1 and CTC-2 constellations, each meant to reach up to 96,714 satellites for a total of 193,428.
The filings far exceed SpaceX’s ambitions of 49,000 satellites for Starlink, which includes 15,000 satellites to bolster its cellular Starlink service meant for phone connectivity. The 193,000 constellation also overshadows China’s Guowang and Qianfan satellite internet constellations, which are small but aim to one day scale up to over 10,000 satellites.
There’s not much information about the Chinese institute or the purpose of the satellites. But one of the filings indicates the Chinese constellations plan to use a wide range of radio frequencies and be deployed across numerous orbits from 300 to 600 kilometers (where Starlink satellites reside), in addition to higher orbits at around 20,000km.
The China in Space Substack also suggests the 193,000 satellite constellation might be defense-related since the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics claims to be involved.
The filing arrives as the US Federal Communications Commission views China’s satellite ambitions as a national security threat. “It’s space race 2.0. The CCP [Chinese Communist Party] is aggressively pursuing space dominance. They want to beat us to the orbits,” FCC Space Bureau Chief Jay Schwarz said in a speech in November.
That said, China has been slow to launch satellites; the Qianfan network only spans 108 satellites and has yet to kick off commercial services. The ITU also notes "that satellite systems are now required to achieve 10% deployment within two years (after the end of the current regulatory period for bringing them into use), 50% within five years, and complete constellation deployment within seven years."
To counter China, the FCC has been expediting and streamlining its satellite approvals. This includes clearing SpaceX to operate another 7,500 satellites for its second-generation constellation. The regulator has also approved plans to operate Starlink satellites at lower orbits, from 340km to 485km. Currently, Starlink has over 9,400 orbiting satellites.