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China accelerates LEO satellite deployment with two launches in 12 days, but gap remains in launchpad efficiency, rocket reusability: expert_我的网站
一 | 冀时新闻报道 "雄安一号"不仅是首颗在雄安新区完成生产下线的卫星，也为中国卫星互联网"批量产"提供关键技术支撑，在发射前夕，记者来到鸿擎科技的生产车间，探访这颗卫星背后的秘密。"雄安一号"由蓝箭鸿擎（雄安）空间科技有限公司研发，2025年10月22日在雄安新区完成下线。这颗重541公斤的平板星，长3米、宽2米，厚度只有0.4米，集成了鸿擎科技自主研制的新一代"金乌"动力系统、"赤羽"能源系统和"白泽"电子系统，并搭载国内首台Tbps级星载路由器等多项具有行业突破意义的技术创新成果。
Two successful launches among China's recent frequent moves caught particular attention of space watchers - the 24th group of low-Earth orbit internet (LEO) satellites aboard a Long March-12 rocket was sent from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan on Sunday, 12 days after the 23rd group of LEO satellites aboard a Long March-8A rocket was launched from the same Hainan site on August 4.
Sunday's mission marked the 663rd launch of the Long March series of carrier rockets, which on Monday sent an SEO satellite into preset orbit, per Xinhua.
Experts said the launches of two groups of LEO satellites within 12 days underlined that China is notably accelerating its pace of building its satellite internet constellation.
"The launch of LEO satellites has now entered a regular and cyclical rhythm, with batches of satellites continuously being sent into orbit at relatively stable intervals," Kang Guohua, a senior member of the Chinese Society of Astronautics and a professor of Aerospace Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told the Global Times on Monday.
China launched the first group of LEO internet satellites on December 16, 2024, proceeding to the 24th batch in about 20 months. Kang said three major production and launch "assembly lines" are supporting the effort: satellite factories featuring centralized design in Beijing, coordinated supply chains and mass production; rockets with streamlined launch and testing procedures and multiple configurations; and launch sites capable of supporting routine constellation deployment.
The Long March-12, which played a key role in the latest LEO satellite launch, is China's first 4-meter-class single-core-stage carrier rocket and was specifically developed for commercial launch needs. It is about 62.6 meters long, has a liftoff mass of 430 tons and can carry more than 12 tons to low-Earth orbit. Its first stage is equipped with four 1,250-kilonewton pump-fed liquid oxygen-kerosene engines and uses a newly developed coal-based aerospace kerosene, according to Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.
The rocket adopts a "three-horizontal" launch preparation model: horizontal assembly, horizontal testing and horizontal transportation. Depending on mission requirements, it can use fairings with diameters of 4.2 or 5.2 meters and support both single-satellite and multi-satellite launches into different orbits.
"This flexibility makes the Long March-12 particularly suitable for the 'one rocket, multiple satellites' model required for constellation deployment, making it one of the main launch vehicles currently used for LEO constellation missions," Kang said.
The mission also highlighted the launch site's growing ability to support high-frequency launches. The rocket took only two and a half days from being transported to the launch area to liftoff, setting a record for the shortest time a rocket occupied the launch position at the site, Kang said.
Despite the rapid progress, experts cautioned that the 228 satellites currently in orbit remain some distance from the ultimate goal. China's satellite internet project has a long-term goal of deploying nearly 8,000 satellites and is now in an accelerated "weaving" phase.
China's advantage lies in its ability to control costs and boost production efficiency once satellite manufacturing reaches mass-production scale, another expert surnamed Liu told the Global Times.
"Whether it is the production capacity of AI centers or the factory in Hainan, which has an annual satellite manufacturing capacity of 1,000 units, satellite production itself is not the problem," Liu said. "More bottlenecks lie in the operational efficiency of launch pads and the rocket payload and recovery technology."
The real challenge lies in rocket reusability. Only by lowering launch costs and increasing launch frequency can China sustain a pace of more than one launch per week. This is also the strategic significance of accelerating the development of reusable rocket technology, including the Long March-10B and privately developed rockets, Kang further noted.
Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Deng Zhongliang previously said in an interview that satellite internet will serve as an indispensable space-time infrastructure for 6G, enabling emerging industries worth trillions of yuan, including the low-altitude economy, advanced autonomous driving and the Internet of Things (IoT).
。鸿擎科技"鸿鹄03星"项目经理 郑书强：比如我们面向批量化这种发射，我们在设计端要考虑整个卫星的构型是不是适合火箭的堆叠这种发射。我们还要考虑动力系统它的可靠性以及低成本的一个解决方案。而"雄安一号"的上天任务，除了要测试单颗卫星的自研技术，还要验证流水线这套工业化制造模式是不是走得通。雄安新区去年建成全国首条流水线式卫星自动化批量产线，一颗卫星总装下线全程仅需约30小时。作为这条产线上生产的第一颗卫星，"雄安一号"也成为面向卫星组网时代的"工程样板间"。鸿擎科技"鸿鹄03星"项目经理 郑书强：单就是这条卫星产线，我们现在产能就瞄着每年100颗的这个目标去做的，可能未来我们就会比如瞄着年产300颗、500颗这个目标去发展。北京航空航天大学宇航学院副教授 杨良："雄安一号"（鸿鹄03星）是为全国商业航天发展，尤其是低轨卫星商业应用打了个样。过去大家印象里卫星研制都是高精尖、小批量、定制化的模式。而"雄安一号"(鸿鹄03星)是真正在雄安本地研发、本地智能制造出来的卫星，验证了低成本、标准化、批量化造星的全新模式。
二 | 这不仅让入驻雄安的航天企业彻底跑通了生产、研制、在轨验证的完整链条，补齐了新区空天信息产业的关键一环，更给全国商业航天产业提供了可复制、可推广的"雄安模式"。当前，全球已经进入低轨卫星组网的太空竞赛阶段。低轨轨道与频谱属于稀缺战略资源，遵循国际规则"先到先得"，建设大规模卫星互联网星座，已经成为各国抢占太空数字基础设施的重要方向。加速推进我国低轨卫星组网建设，不仅事关天地一体化信息网络构建，更关系国家通信安全、6G空天地一体化发展与新质生产力培育。北京航空航天大学宇航学院副教授 杨良：一方面，国际上轨道频谱资源竞争非常激烈，留给我们的时间窗口很紧；另一方面，传统卫星单件小批量研制模式，根本满足不了巨型星座成千上万颗卫星的部署需求。
三 | "雄安一号"(鸿鹄03星)最大的价值，就是把"流水线造卫星"这套模式送上太空进行验证，解决造得慢、成本高的卡点，为我们国家快速部署低轨星座趟出了工程化道路。
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