China launches new group of internet satellites
Wire desk byline Sourced from Xinhua, Dawn, Arab News, Anadolu and Minute Mirror. Translated and abridged by the GSRRA Desk.
A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying a group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2025. This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
WENCHANG, Hainan, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) — China successfully launched a new group of low Earth orbit satellites from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan on Wednesday.
This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket.
The satellites successfully entered their preset orbit.
This launch marked the 588th mission of the Long March series carrier rockets. ■
A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying a group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2025. This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket. (Photo by Du Xinxin/Xinhua)
A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying a group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2025. This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket. (Photo by Du Xinxin/Xinhua)
A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying a group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2025. This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket. (Photo by Du Xinxin/Xinhua)
A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying a group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2025. This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket. (Photo by Du Xinxin/Xinhua)
A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying a group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2025. This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying a group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2025. This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
A Long March-5B carrier rocket carrying a group of low Earth orbit satellites blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan Province, Aug. 13, 2025. This satellite group, the eighth of its kind that will constitute an internet constellation, was launched at 2:43 p.m. (Beijing Time) aboard a Long March-5B carrier rocket, featuring a Yuanzheng-2 (Expedition-2) upper stage at the top of the rocket. (Xinhua/Guo Cheng)
Reference Link:- https://english.news.cn/20250813/5df710587e8f44e38ae2c3a3c2a57b33/c.html
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
