China launched a Long March 8A rocket from the Hainan International Commercial Space Launch Center to deploy the 20th group of low Earth orbit satellites for its space internet network.
According to the Vietnam News Agency correspondent in Beijing, early on March 13, China launched two rockets carrying multiple satellites into space.
According to China Daily, China launched the Long March 8A rocket at 3:48 AM (2:48 AM Vietnam time) from the Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Center in Wenchang to deploy the 20th group of low Earth orbit satellites for its space internet network. This was the eighth launch of the Long March 8A rocket to deploy low Earth orbit internet satellites.
These satellites were manufactured by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, based in Shanghai. The academy is a unit under the Chinese Academy of Sciences .
Following this latest launch, China's space internet system has approximately 160 satellites operating in low Earth orbit. Upon completion of deployment, China's massive satellite constellation is expected to comprise around 13,000 satellites operating in low Earth orbit, creating a global internet network.
In addition to the aforementioned launch, at 6:33 AM on the same day (5:33 AM Vietnam time), China also launched a Long March 2D rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province, placing two experimental satellites, named Experiment 30C and 30D, into orbit for Earth observation missions.
To date, China has conducted 14 space missions.