Astronomers may have to contend with a new, larger satellite constellation.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ANDREW JONES27 AUG 2024, IEEE
China launched its first batch of satellites for its Qianfan megaconstellation earlier this month. It now has 18 satellites in orbit, but much more will be needed to build out this network of nearly 14,000 satellites.
Qianfan—”thousands sails” in Chinese and also referred to as Spacesail or G60—is a project run by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST). Last February, the company announced it had raised 6.7 billion yuan ($943 million) in funding, with backing from Shanghai’s municipal government. This makes it a serious project, and one meant to catch up with SpaceX’s Starlink, providing global connectivity, including direct mobile connections, while also providing rural connectivity, supporting e-commerce, and bolstering national security within China.
The aim, SSST says, is to launch all 13,904 satellites by 2030. That, incredibly, works out to launching an average of just over seven satellites per day, every day, until the end of the decade.
To put this in perspective, SpaceX, with its reusable Falcon 9 rocket, has launched 6,895 satellites since the Starlink constellation’s first launch in May 2019. Of these, around 5,500 are still in orbit and operational. That works out to about 3.5 satellites launched per day.
...
Qianfan/G60 satellites will operate at 800 kilometers above Earth, about 250 km higher than Starlink satellites. This means the Qianfan satellites themselves, along with rocket stages and any debris, could remain in space for decades—well beyond their own obsolescence. And that debris would then eventually threaten spacecraft in lower orbits, as it all descends back to Earth.
|
Story here :-
https://spectrum.ieee.org/satellite-internet