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China launched 23 satellites in 30 hours using a Long March 8 from Hainan and a Long March 6A from Taiyuan for the Mil Velas and Guowang constellations, which together plan about 27 thousand satellites to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink, which already operates more than 6 thousand satellites and serves 4 million users in 100 countries.
The race for space-based internet has just gained a new chapter. China launched 23 satellites in two distinct missions in just over 30 hours, using two different rockets from two separate launch bases, in one of the most concentrated orbital deployments ever carried out by the country. The satellites were divided between the Mil Velas and Guowang constellations, the two Chinese programs that directly compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink for global satellite internet coverage. The blitz demonstrates a launch pace that would have been unthinkable five years ago.
On the other side of the competition, SpaceX’s Starlink already operates more than 6 thousand satellites and serves over 4 million users in more than 100 countries. According to Space Daily, the combined fleet of the Chinese mega-constellations has fewer than 100 satellites in orbit at the beginning of 2026, revealing the extent of the distance Beijing needs to cover. But it is precisely this distance that explains the urgency: the international spectrum rules of the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) operate on a “use it or lose it” basis, and China needs to launch satellites within established deadlines at the risk of losing orbital positions and reserved frequencies.
The two Chinese satellite programs that want to rival Starlink
China is not betting on a single constellation, but on two. The Mil Velas, operated by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, plans 648 satellites in the first phase and up to 14 thousand in total, having launched approximately 54 satellites since its first mission in August 2024.
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The Guowang, a state network that receives the most direct comparisons with Starlink, has registered documentation with the ITU for approximately 13 thousand satellites, but had fewer than 30 in orbit at the beginning of 2026.
Combined, the two programs require the launch of around 27,000 satellites to achieve the planned total capacity. This number makes the Chinese goal even more ambitious than Starlink in its current phase.
The two batches of satellites launched this week were manufactured by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (IAMCAS), revealing that, despite being nominally separate programs, they share the same manufacturer, suggesting centralized industrial coordination rather than fragmented competition.
The launch strategy that differentiates China from SpaceX in the race for satellites
The approaches are fundamentally different. SpaceX built Starlink through vertical integration: one company, one family of rockets, three launch platforms, and has alone launched over a thousand satellites in 2024 using the Falcon 9.
China distributes the work among state-owned enterprises and commercial startups, with multiple families of rockets, multiple launch sites, and centralized satellite manufacturing under national strategic guidelines.
While SpaceX focuses operational efficiency at few points, China builds enough platforms so that no site becomes a bottleneck. The Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center, from where the Long March 8 launched this week, is a relatively new facility designed for peak commercial demand. Jiuquan includes a commercial innovation testing zone.
A coastal complex in Haiyang is expanding. Ningbo and Yangjiang are developing additional aerospace facilities. China trades SpaceX’s operational intensity for distributed resilience in the race for satellites.
The numbers that show the size of the distance between Chinese satellites and Starlink
The comparison in raw numbers is revealing. SpaceX manufactures approximately six Starlink satellites per day at its facilities in Redmond, Washington, and operates from a model where the Falcon 9 can be reused dozens of times, reducing costs per launch.
China conducted 68 orbital launches in 2024, an increase from previous years, but far from the pace needed to catch up to Starlink. The targets for 2026 suggest over 100 launches, which would require two per week throughout the entire year.
To even meet the first phase targets, China would need to manufacture thousands of satellites per year and launch them at a pace it has yet to demonstrate. IAMCAS and other Chinese manufacturers will need to achieve production capacity comparable to that of SpaceX, a challenge that involves assembly speed, supply chain, and quality control at an industrial scale.
The question that defines this decade in the space sector is whether the Chinese distributed model for satellites will prove more resilient or more complex than SpaceX’s vertically integrated model.
What Chinese satellite internet would mean for the world
A large-scale Guowang constellation, combined with the Mil Velas satellites, would give China an orbital communications layer currently matched only by SpaceX.
Satellite internet could transform connectivity in China’s interior provinces and in developing countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, providing coverage in regions where terrestrial fiber optic infrastructure is economically unfeasible.
On the military side, the implications of Chinese satellites do not go unnoticed by defense planners in Washington, Tokyo, or Brussels.
An independent orbital communications network means that China would not rely on infrastructure controlled by Western companies in conflict scenarios and could also operate a parallel internet under its regulatory authority and data sovereignty rules. The race for satellites is not just commercial. It is strategic, military, and geopolitical.
The pace of satellite launches that China needs to maintain to compete
With approximately 21 orbital launches in the first months of 2026, China is on track for its most ambitious year.
New vehicles like the Nebula-1 and the Tianlong-3 are expected to have inaugural flights soon, and companies like Galactic Energy, LandSpace, and CAS Space are developing their own rockets competing for constellation launch contracts. The state series Long March continues to expand with reusable variants in development.
Launching 23 satellites in two days is not extraordinary in a world where SpaceX puts 60 Starlinks in a single flight. What makes it significant is the industrial and political machine behind each Chinese mission. Each flight of the Long March program is not a standalone event.
It is a point on a curve that Beijing is determined to accentuate, in a race where space is both infrastructure and battlefield.
What impresses you more: SpaceX with 6,000 satellites already operating or China launching 23 in 30 hours to try to catch up? Which model do you think will win: vertical integration or distributed resilience? Let us know in the comments. The race for space internet is one of the most important technological competitions of the decade, and it is happening right above our heads.
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