BEIJING – China plans to launch 300 low-orbit satellites to provideworldwide communication services, with the first in the series to belaunched later this year, an official media report said Monday. The firstin the 300-satellite array — known as the Hongyan constellation — is set tobe launched by the end of this year, it said.

The announcement was made at the Hunan Commercial Aviation Space and MarineEquipment Forum held on Thursday in Changsha, Central China’s HunanProvince, state-run Global Times reported. The official Xinhua news agencyhad in February quoted the China Aerospace Science and TechnologyCorporation (CASC) as saying that the series called Hongyan constellationwas set to be launched this year.Play Video2m 5s

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The Hongyan constellation is composed of more than 300 satellites, alongwith data processing centers, and will be built in three stages. Oncecompleted, the satellite communication network will take the place of theground-based network and allow a mobile phone to be connected everywhere onthe planet, either in a remote desert or at sea, the CASC said.

China is already developing BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) torival America’s Global Positioning System, (GPS). Besides rivaling GPS,China uses BDS for its military applications to avoid dependence on GPS.

The new constellation will be the first group of low-orbit communicationsatellites designed and launched by China, enabling the country to betterguide disaster rescue efforts, the Global Times reported.

Low-orbit satellites have stronger signals and a shorter signal delay thansynchronous orbit satellites, which are 36,000 km above the equator. Thecoverage of a single low-orbit satellite is limited, requiring moresatellites to cover wider areas, Pang Zhihao, retired rocket and aerospaceexpert with the China Academy of Space Technology (CASC) told the daily.ADVERTISEMENT

“The technology can be applied to multiple fields including civil andmilitary use,” Pang said. However, a number of China’s aerospace companieshave decided not to invest in the development of satellite systems as theyworry about high costs and remain uncertain of the commercial use of thetechnology.

“Mobile communications satellites are a trend of the future, but reducingcosts remains an important issue to be solved,” Pang said. Zhao Junsuo, aresearch fellow at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Software,told the newspaper that China’s current space-based infrastructure remainsinsufficient.

Improvement of the infrastructure could lessen the cost of satelliteconstellations and needs government support, Zhao said.China AerospaceScience and Industry Corporation Limited is also planning to launch anarray of low-orbit satellites it calls the Xingyun project, the report said.