China launches test satellites for orbiting broadband service

Chinese satellite broadband outfit GalaxySpace has launched the first satellites in a planned low Earth orbit constellation that will eventually offer a wireless internet service. The sats went aloft over the weekend atop a Long March 2-C rocket that also hauled an Earth observation sat into the heavens. GalaxySpace aims to …

[b0llchit]

Self serving for control

If Beijing sticks to a nice low number like 144 the service won't be useful beyond the Middle Kingdom

But they are perfectly aligned with the great firewall. Target is internal networking, not external. People will already have access to most of anything once they are stationed outside the firewall's, hm, country's borders. China's birds will make enforcing a domestic ban on any foreign satellite connectivity easier while providing a local and controlled system inside the firewall.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Self serving for control

One has to wonder how effective enforcing a ban on others satellite internet systems will be, given the small foot print. Such a connection to the real Internet would be standalone as even if one would want to connect it to the net inside the great firewall (or inside Russia or Iran), as doing so would certainly give it's location away to the authorities. So it's threat spreading the contagion of truth is limited.

[b0llchit]

Re: Self serving for control

Transmitters can be tracked.

Coarse location by satellite and the narrow search quite easily with a modern army of drones. You could also skip the sat-track if you have enough mid-to-high-altitude surveillance.

[PhilipN]

Nice low number?

If the purpose is to connect the entire country - and ONLY the country - parts of which including rural areas are poorly connected… isn’t that obvious?

What is it with this shambolic article? I’m still waiting for the punch line to understand the point of “surveillance” in the heading, unless that was exclusively to grab attention from Google’s spider.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Nice low number?

What part of "The sats went aloft over the weekend atop a Long March 2-C rocket that also hauled an Earth observation sat into the heavens." did you not understand?

[PhilipN]

Re: Nice low number?

What part of “144 birds for small-footprint high-surveillance service” did you not understand?

[Nightkiller]

Re: Nice low number?

If the purpose is to track where the connections are coming from the entire country - and ONLY the country - parts of which including rural areas are poorly connected… isn’t that obvious?

FTFY

[PhilipN]

Re: Nice low number?

"If ..."

[AVR]

144 satellites means there'd be much fewer over China at any given moment, maybe only one or two. LEO orbits aren't geosynchronous at all, about the best you could get is that they wouldn't go further north than is useful in China. I'm dubious that this would improve Internet connectivity in rural China significantly.

I mean, if there are thousands of connections sure, but could one satellite handle millions?

[89724102172714182892114I7551670349743096734346773478647892349863592355648544996312855148587659264921]

fscking hell yet more extinction event asteroid obscuring space graffiti. at this rate humanity will never form offworld colonies, will destry itself on earth unable to launch for the thick myriad of swirling unpredictable sometimes secret and cloaked dead defunct space junk. what's wrong with cables

[IceC0ld]

kind of hard to get the extension leads up to that altitude IIRC :o)

[89724102172714182892114I7551670349743096734346773478647892349863592355648544996312855148587659264921]

:D

[Notas Badoff]

I'm still waiting for more information about the Viasat terminals suddenly dying on a certain recent invasion day. 30,000 of them?

Here's the ElReg article that very much in passing mentioned it, and here's the linked external article. And NASA says !

Everyone mentioned the 5,800 wind turbines on that day, because the German regulator put out a statement that the electric wouldn't stop. But everybody else has been remarkably mum. What's going on Reg?