China registers with ITU for new mega-constellation
July 31, 2023
By Chris Forrester
China has registered a new satellite constellation of 1,296 craft. The formal filing with the ITU was made on July 4th and updated on July 28th.
The Chinese filing named its new constellation as Salespace-1 and it will have 36 planes of orbiting satellites, with each plane containing 36, hence a total of 1,296.
The planned craft will operate in the Ku, Q and V-bands and orbit at 1,160 kms.
China is no slouch when it comes to orbiting satellites. It is second only to the US in the number of satellites it has placed into orbit. As recently as June 2023 it launched 41 small-ish satellites on a single launch rocket.
It has a dedicated business (China Satellite Network Ltd – China SatNet) and claims to be a deliberate rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink.