A Chinese rocket launched a group of communications satellites made by one of the country’s largest automakers, boosting the nation’s efforts to reach low-Earth orbit, an area dominated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Eleven satellites made by Geespace, a subsidiary of Zhejiang Geely Holding Group Co., lifted off aboard a Long March CZ-2C rocket from the Xichang satellite launch center in Sichuan province at 7:37 a.m. local time on Saturday, l state broadcaster CCTV.
For Geespace, this is the long-awaited second launch of this type, following a first batch of nine satellites sent into orbit in mid-2022.
Geespace wants to deploy a network of satellites about 600 kilometers (373 miles) above Earth that can one day connect to driverless cars and support other features in Geely vehicles. The company also hopes to be able to provide connections for consumer electronics. As competition in China’s automotive market intensifies and space infrastructure improves, satellite communications are becoming another major selling point for consumers.
“Right now, I might have the satellite function and you don’t,” Geespace CEO Tony Wang said in an interview with Bloomberg News ahead of the launch. “But in the future everyone will have this functionality, and every car too.”
Wang referred to two smartphones from Huawei Technologies Co.’s Mate series, which support satellite calling and also connect to China’s Beidou satellite navigation system. Geespace satellite communication is now available in many electric vehicles from the Geely group, including Zeekr 001 FR and 007 and Galaxy E8.
China has made great strides in developing its space program, including landings on Mars and the far side of the Moon, and has plans for a “rapid creation” of a “massive” constellation in low Earth orbit, the Global Times at the end of December.
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However, state-owned enterprises have so far been slow to build that presence in low-Earth orbit, and the Geely subsidiary is one of the few private sector firms to try to operate satellites there. SpaceX operates more than 5,300 satellites in low Earth orbit and continues to launch dozens more each month.
This weekend’s launch came more than 18 months after Geespace deployed its first batch of satellites. The company now faces a tight schedule if it hopes to meet its goal of deploying the constellation’s first phase of 72 satellites by next year.
“To create this satellite constellation, we need to create the network, the ground infrastructure, and also carry out the commercialization of the cloud service,” Wang said. “There’s a lot of pressure.”
The group’s billionaire founder and chairman, Li Shufu, owns nearly 10% of Mercedes-Benz Group AG, and Geely owns stakes in other foreign automakers such as Volvo AB and Lotus Technology Inc. Li also chose the Chinese name Geespace, which means a path in time and space.
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Geely was China’s third-largest auto exporter last year, behind only SAIC Motor Corp. and Chery Automobile Co. Geespace plans to one day offer its service globally, Wang said, “to provide satellite communications in real time anywhere in the world except the North and South Poles.”
In 2021, Geespace completed construction of a factory in the eastern Chinese city of Taizhou capable of producing 500 satellites per year. The company has sold dozens of these satellites to Chinese startups, universities and other space stakeholders, Wang said.
“The next race for the electric vehicle industry is autonomous driving and Internet of Things service. Telecommunications infrastructure is also moving from 5G to 6G. One of its key features is the extensive use of satellite communications and navigation network,” Wang said. “We believe the demand and size of this market will reach an inflection point very soon.”