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I can't help but wonder about why countries are doing this. Launch detection? Cameras? Other secret use? Making money for commercial sats? (Starlink, maybe GPS

I can't help but wonder about why countries are doing this. Launch detection? Cameras? Other secret use? Making money for commercial sats? (Starlink, maybe GPS-equivalent, other?)

perihelions 11mo ago
Satellite constellations (links in the final paragraph of the OP article).
- SilverElfin 11mo ago
  I hope they become better at injecting payloads into low orbit. The higher orbits Chinese companies use for internet constellations right now have huge risks of space debris, since satellites will take hundreds of years to fall out of orbit.
  - perihelions 11mo ago
    It's true they're using much higher LEO orbits—not sure why you were downvoted for this basic and relevant fact. While Starlink goes to 500-600 km altitudes, Qianfan seems to target 800 km[a], and Guowang has been launching to 900 km and 1,145 km [b,c]. (I'm not discussing the few Starlinks in VLEO orbits below 300 km, because I don't know what the concrete plans are with those). Those are orbits with 100+ year dynamic lifetimes (as is regularly discussed, i.e. ref [d]). It's true that they could actively deorbit them; that's the lifespan of passive debris that fails to actively deorbit. (Ref [d] also discusses spent rocket stages in this context, and China's uniquely bad behavior there). I assume the main motive behind this is basic business economics. China doesn't have reusable boosters; the ones that might succeed this month won't reach Falcon 9 levels of mass production, and launch cadence, for several years. They're on an expensive on-ramp. To a first-order simplification 1,100 km orbits need only 1/4th as many satellites for the same coverage as 550 km orbits. [a] https://www.space.com/china-first-launch-internet-satellite-megaconstellation https://www.space.com/china-first-launch-internet-satellite-... [b] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guowang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guowang [c] https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/china-may-have-taken-an-early-lead-in-the-race-for-a-military-megaconstellation/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/china-may-have-taken-a... [d] https://spacenews.com/chinas-megaconstellation-launches-could-litter-orbit-for-more-than-a-century-analysts-warn/ https://spacenews.com/chinas-megaconstellation-launches-coul...
m4rtink 11mo ago
If the per kg price goes low enough, you can do on-orbit manufacturing of some materials that are impossible to produce in a gravity field.

I can't help but wonder about why countries are doing this. Launch detection? Cameras? Other secret use? Making money for commercial sats? (Starlink, maybe GPS-equivalent, other?)

perihelions 11mo ago

Satellite constellations (links in the final paragraph of the OP article).

SilverElfin 11mo ago
I hope they become better at injecting payloads into low orbit. The higher orbits Chinese companies use for internet constellations right now have huge risks of space debris, since satellites will take hundreds of years to fall out of orbit.
- perihelions 11mo ago
  It's true they're using much higher LEO orbits—not sure why you were downvoted for this basic and relevant fact. While Starlink goes to 500-600 km altitudes, Qianfan seems to target 800 km[a], and Guowang has been launching to 900 km and 1,145 km [b,c]. (I'm not discussing the few Starlinks in VLEO orbits below 300 km, because I don't know what the concrete plans are with those). Those are orbits with 100+ year dynamic lifetimes (as is regularly discussed, i.e. ref [d]). It's true that they could actively deorbit them; that's the lifespan of passive debris that fails to actively deorbit. (Ref [d] also discusses spent rocket stages in this context, and China's uniquely bad behavior there). I assume the main motive behind this is basic business economics. China doesn't have reusable boosters; the ones that might succeed this month won't reach Falcon 9 levels of mass production, and launch cadence, for several years. They're on an expensive on-ramp. To a first-order simplification 1,100 km orbits need only 1/4th as many satellites for the same coverage as 550 km orbits. [a] https://www.space.com/china-first-launch-internet-satellite-megaconstellation https://www.space.com/china-first-launch-internet-satellite-... [b] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guowang https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guowang [c] https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/china-may-have-taken-an-early-lead-in-the-race-for-a-military-megaconstellation/ https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/08/china-may-have-taken-a... [d] https://spacenews.com/chinas-megaconstellation-launches-could-litter-orbit-for-more-than-a-century-analysts-warn/ https://spacenews.com/chinas-megaconstellation-launches-coul...

m4rtink 11mo ago

If the per kg price goes low enough, you can do on-orbit manufacturing of some materials that are impossible to produce in a gravity field.