引力一号遥三海上发射 千帆星座增至256颗

Not long after sunrise, Orienspace’s Gravity-1 blasted off from the waters of the East China Sea, near Shanghai (上海市), at 06:00 am China Standard Time on September 16th (22:00 pm Universal Coordinated Time on September 15th), heading for a polar orbit carrying a group of satellites for a single customer. Riding into orbit were another eight Qianfan space-based connectivity satellites, for their first deployment via a solid-propellant launch vehicle and a second launch via China’s space sector, whilst being the constellation’s sixteenth launch to date. Those satellites were made by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, Chinese Academy of Sciences (中国科学院微小卫星创新研究院) to bring the total number deployed to 256. Costing under 10 million Yuan (1.47 million United States Dollars) a piece, each Qianfan satellite weighs 300 kilograms with a ‘flat pack’ design, with a single solar array, to fit as many satellites as possible inside the rocket fairing in two parallel stacks. For maneuvering in orbit, each satellite has an electric hall-effect thruster burning krypton to generate 20 millinewtons of thrust, with a specific impulse of 1,385 seconds. The Qianfan (千帆) mega-constellation, sometimes referred to as SpaceSail, is operated by Shanghai Spacesail Technologies Co Ltd (上海垣信卫星科技有限公司), aiming to provide space-based internet connectivity services in China and abroad in places including Brazil, Malaysia, Kazakhstan, Türkiye, and via airlines, around the fourth quarter of this year. Among the eight operational satellites being launched, the ‘Enhanced Ultra High Throughput test satellite (增强型超高传输技术试验星)’ was also placed into orbit. That satellite features a sizeable phased array antenna, and is planned to be used for technology verifications. It is likely related to a previous second-generation pathfinding satellite launched back in June. By launching a set of Qianfan satellites, Gravity-1 is the second commercially developed launch vehicle to do so, following a mission from LandSpace not even a day earlier. Orienspace was proud to be able to launch connectivity satellites, sharing: “This mission marked Orienspace’s first-ever launch of a large low‑Earth‑orbit satellite internet constellation, as well as the world’s first maritime mobile launch of a low‑Earth‑orbit broadband internet constellation. The mission set new national records for both the total mass of the payload and the orbital altitude achieved in a single maritime launch, with a net payload exceeding 3 to…