Qianfan / G60 Starlink / Thousand Sails Constellation
The Qianfan Constellation is also known as the "G60 Starlink". According to the plan, by the end of 2030, the "Thousand Sails Constellation" will eventually build a network of more than 10,000 low-orbit broadband multimedia satellites. China is eager to catch up and create a "Chinese version of Starlink" to capture the 2.3 trillion yuan (approximately US$325 billion) business Space market opportunities. The project is led by Songjiang District, Shanghai, and jointly built by multiple capitals. The project implementer is Shanghai Yuanxin Satellite. Previously, they have completed the launch of 5 test satellites. The Chinese military has noted the potential military applications of these constellations, citing the Ukrainian military’s use of Starlink satellites to strike invading Russian aggressor forces.
At 14:42 06 August 2024 China successfully launched the Qianfan Polar Orbit 01 satellite group into space using the Long March 6 modified carrier rocket at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The satellite entered the predetermined orbit smoothly and the launch mission was a complete success. This mission is the 530th flight of the Long March series of carrier rockets. The Qianfan Polar Orbit 01 satellite group achieved the first launch of 18 flat-panel satellites in China. The Qianfan polar orbit satellite group 01 launched this time is the first batch of networking satellites of China's low-orbit Internet "Qianfan Constellation", marking an important step for China to enter the field of global satellite Internet. The 18 satellites launched today are the first batch of networking satellites of the "Qianfan Constellation".
According to the different satellite orbit heights, communication satellites can be divided into three categories according to their height from the ground: low orbit, medium orbit and high orbit. Among them, the orbit height of low-orbit satellites is usually 500km~2000km. Due to the low deployment orbit, it has the characteristics of "low latency, low radiation, and low cost", and there is no need to set up base stations, and the signal coverage is not restricted by the region. At the same time, low-orbit satellites are also an important part of the 6G NTN space-air integrated network and a key technology in the 6G era. Due to their low orbital altitude, these satellites have the characteristics of low transmission delay and low link loss , making them very suitable for the development of satellite Internet services.
The Qianfan constellation will adopt a multi-layer, multi-orbit, and phased constellation design. The application potential of low-orbit satellites is huge: in remote mountainous areas as well as more than 70% of the earth's areas, such as deserts, forests, and oceans, where ground communication networks are difficult to cover, low-orbit satellites can theoretically be used for coverage to meet the wide range of needs of public utilities, commercial applications, and personal communications.
Low-orbit satellite Internet communication has high speed and wide coverage. According to reports, the "Qianfan Constellation" of low-orbit broadband satellite Internet constellation is built for the communication needs of the general public. The deployment of flat-panel high-throughput broadband communication satellites in low orbit has the advantages of being close to the ground, low cost, low power consumption, wide coverage, and low latency. It can provide satellite Internet services with large bandwidth, low latency, high quality, high security, and global coverage.
Zhu Xiaocheng, deputy commander of the "Thousand Sails Constellation": There is a square relationship between the communication rate, satellite power consumption and distance. The longer the distance, the lower the corresponding rate. If we are in a higher orbit, such as at an orbital altitude of 36,000 kilometers in the geosynchronous orbit, although we can achieve global coverage with three satellites, its communication rate will be very low under this condition. The transmission of big data must have a low-orbit broadband communication network system. According to the orbital coverage design requirements, we analyzed that 14,000 satellites can almost cover the needs of most of our human living areas.
The cooperation between satellite and ground Internet opens a new chapter in the Internet of Everything. It is understood that currently traditional land mobile communication services only cover less than 6% of the earth's surface area. Due to inherent characteristics, the cost of fully deploying land base stations is too high. In the short term, it can only guarantee urban coverage. Low-orbit satellite constellations can provide global coverage and supplement networks in remote areas and oceans.
With the traditional cellular architecture used to support the development of low-altitude Internet, as the density of base stations increases, the cells become smaller and smaller. Due to the characteristics of each base station being independent, the crosstalk between cells limits the system capacity. The 6G full-spectrum cellular-free architecture relies on baseband cloud processing and distributed MIMO to achieve an order of magnitude improvement in efficiency, and then converts interference into useful signals, making coverage more uniform, while supporting the smooth evolution from 5G to 6G. After laboratory evaluation, the full-spectrum cellular-free access network system has achieved more than an order of magnitude improvement in peak rate, spectrum efficiency, latency and reliability compared to traditional cellular access network systems.
Although satellites have a wide coverage area, if a large number of drones are flying at the same time, the satellite capacity may not be able to meet the demand. In addition, it is difficult for satellites to accurately perceive small drones on the ground. Therefore, to truly achieve synaesthesia, it still needs to rely on the support of the ground network. Digital low-altitude, as the name implies, refers to the use of digital technology to achieve efficient operation and management of the low-altitude economy. This includes building a stable, safe, and intelligent low-altitude information infrastructure through advanced communication, perception, navigation, meteorology and other information and data technologies, thereby supporting the widespread use of low-altitude aircraft such as drones and providing a solid guarantee for the development of the low-altitude economy.
The low-altitude economy requires the support of information and communication technology. Since the birth of the "low-altitude economy", the information and communication field has also regarded it as an emerging value scenario and an important direction for the development of next-generation technology. At the 2024 Global 6G Technology Conference in April 2024, the low-altitude economy became a hot word, and experts were full of expectations and confidence in its future. There is a view that the low-altitude economy will become one of the most promising killer applications of 6G, and 6G single-point technology may be applied in advance, and the low-altitude economy will benefit first.
Zhu Xiaocheng, deputy commander of Qianfan Constellation: It is actually an expansion and extension of the ground Internet. In the future, we will be able to go to more distant places and connect to the Internet in time, such as in geological disasters and emergencies. In the future, the speed of China's communication system will be higher and higher, and the number of users covered by communication will increase. In the future, we may realize a new era of the Internet of Everything.
Since SpaceX launched the Starlink program in 2014, the industry has realized the importance of competing for low-orbit satellite resources. Starlink plans to launch 42,000 satellites. As of July 28, 2024, Beijing time, SpaceX has launched 185 batches of 6,805 satellites, and the frequency and number of launches are accelerating. In terms of commercial operations, Starlink services have covered 99 countries and the number of users has exceeded 3 million.
For 2024, the Qianfan constellation alone plans to launch more than 100 satellites. Experts said that currently, space resources in low-Earth orbit are very limited and can be understood as first come, first served. According to the plan, by 2025, the "Qianfan Constellation" will complete the deployment of 648 satellites in the first phase and initially build a satellite Internet system with global coverage. The first phase of the "Qianfan Constellation" will launch 648 satellites, of which the Shanghai Microsatellite Engineering Center is responsible for the development of 324 satellites.
In addition to space orbital resources, there is another important non-renewable resource, which is radio frequency resources . According to the regulations of the International Telecommunication Union, frequencies belong to all mankind and do not belong to any organization or individual. All satellite operators who want to use a certain frequency in space need to apply to the International Telecommunication Union. Based on the principle of "first come, first served", whoever applies first will enjoy the priority right to use this frequency. After applying for the frequency and orbital position, the first satellite must be launched within 7 years, the total number of launches must reach 10% within 9 years, the total number of launches must reach 50% within 12 years, and the entire constellation must be launched within 14 years, so this places very high demands on the deployment of the entire constellation.
At present, the global competition for low-orbit satellite resources is very fierce . The United States, Britain, Canada, Russia, Germany, South Korea and other countries have successively planned grand low-orbit Internet satellite networking plans. China's Qianfan constellation and StarNet are also accelerating.
A large number of satellites can be developed in a short period of time since the Shanghai Microsatellite Project has independently developed and built an intelligent production line to achieve "mass" production of satellites. The first batch of 18 satellites launched this time were all developed by the Shanghai Microsatellite Engineering Center. Cao Caixia, chief designer of "Qianfan Constellation": Compared with traditional satellites, its development cycle and launch cycle are very fast.
Generally speaking, it takes about 3 to 5 years to produce a satellite from component procurement, single-machine development to entire satellite production before launch. However, the number of satellites in the Thousand Sails Constellation is huge. In order to speed up the development efficiency, the Shanghai Microsatellite Engineering Center independently developed and built a satellite intelligent manufacturing platform and established a modular and standardized satellite production line.
Cao Caixia, chief designer of "Thousand Sails Constellation": We have taken into account the current rapid development, including the stacked launch of flat-panel satellites. From structural design to single-machine design, we have adopted a fully digital approach. In the production process, we also use digital automated testing methods. After the single machine comes over, the entire satellite enters a pulsating production line, which is equivalent to being controlled by digital methods. This greatly improves the development efficiency.
It is reported that the production line currently has the capacity to produce more than 300 satellites per year, and in the future it will be able to support the launch of 36 satellites per rocket, meeting the needs of rapid networking and intensive launch of larger-scale constellations.
Caitong Securities research report pointed out that this "18 satellites in one arrow" will help reduce satellite launch costs and further verify the carrying capacity of Chinese rockets. The implementation of "G60 Starlink" means the further expansion of China's satellite Internet industry chain. In the future, the development of satellite technology in mobile phone innovation, autonomous driving, disaster prevention and reduction, network and other markets is expected to accelerate.
Zheshang Securities said that China's satellite Internet has entered a stage of high-quality and rapid development. Satellite manufacturing is developing towards low cost, high reliability and lightweight, and satellite launch will accelerate the transition to a miniature, high-frequency and lightweight launch mode; in terms of satellite applications, the three major mainstream satellite systems of communication, navigation and remote sensing will be interconnected in the future to achieve multi-network integration of the space-ground network and realize intelligent information services.
The agency said that multiple factors are driving the rapid development of the industry and that it is focusing on investment opportunities in the core links of the satellite industry chain. There are many listed companies in the satellite manufacturing sector and the economies of scale are strong after the industry explodes. It is expected to achieve explosive growth with the construction of the low-orbit communication satellite Starlink. In addition, rocket launches are developing rapidly in the direction of large capacity and low cost, and the launch vehicle market has broad space.
Guotai Junan Securities recently released a research report stating that commercial aerospace, as an important direction of new quality productivity, is shifting from the introduction stage to the growth stage, and policy support is expected to promote its rapid development. With reference to SpaceX's valuation of US$210 billion and combined with the constellation networking plans of major operators , the domestic market size is expected to reach trillions of yuan.
According to C114, in addition to the Qianfan constellation, China also has plans for the GW constellation of China Star Network and the Honghu-3 constellation of HongQing Technology, a subsidiary of Landray Technology. The satellite Internet industry is currently in a period of great prosperity, accelerating the maturity of industrial chain technologies and business model innovation, including satellite mass manufacturing and multi-satellite launches, and growing stronger in the competition, challenging the SpaceX "Starlink" plan, and gaining a better position in the field of satellite Internet. China has applied for 51,300 satellites in the International Telecommunication Union. Among them, Shanghai Yuanxin applied for 27,808 satellites on top of the original 1,296. The newly applied satellite constellations do not represent the final approval, but they show China's layout and determination in seizing low-orbit satellite resources.
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