SpaceNews reports that increasingly ambitious megaconstellation plans are intensifying competition for orbital resources as companies and governments propose deploying thousands—or potentially far more—satellites. Amazon is seeking more than 5,000 satellites, Blue Origin has proposed another 5,400, and Chinese companies have filed plans for substantially larger networks, while Elon Musk has discussed a constellation potentially numbering 1 million spacecraft. But SpaceNews notes a fundamental obstacle to those enormous ambitions: “There is one issue: building all of them.”
Full Story (SpaceNews)
Tag: Constellation
China’s Qianfan Constellation Reaches 200 Satellites in Orbit
Space News reports, “Construction of the Shanghai-led Qianfan constellation continued to accelerate this week with a pair of Long March launches, following on from two recent experimental flights. China launched Long March 6A and Long March 8 rockets Thursday and Friday respectively, adding 36 satellites to the project led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), or Spacesail.”
Full Story (Space News)
Rocket Lab Sends First Open Cosmos Satellites Into Polar Orbit
Space News reports, “A Rocket Lab Electron launched the first satellites for a new constellation being developed by Open Cosmos that will use spectrum previously assigned to Rivada Space Networks. The Electron lifted off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 5:52 a.m. Eastern Jan. 22. It deployed two satellites into a circular polar orbit at an altitude of about 1,050 kilometers one hour and nine minutes after liftoff.”
Full Story (Space News)
Video
RocketLab Electron Launch from New Zealand (Launch takes place at the 23:07 mark)
The Launch Pad | YouTube