China’s effort to build a competitor to Eileon Musk Starlink is a rugged start

These requirements can soon become a serious problem for both Guwang and Qianfan. Since they started launching non -experimental satellites last year, the time now has become a location, and the rules of the International Telecommunication Union stipulate that they will need to send 10 percent of their spacecraft to the sky by 2026.

Compared to Starlink, both wings appear slow to make progress. Starlink launched The first batch of satellites In May 2019, the company reached a fixed rhythm in the following year, as it reached nearly 2000 satellites in about two years, says McDelwell.

Guowang in particular was moving slower than many observers had expected since it was first recording at ITU in 2020.

Guwang, or Satnet, as some came to call it, was one of the first satellite companies to take a high -level transition to Xiong’an, a developed near Beijing, which the Chinese government promotes as a high -tech city in the future. Corsio says her relations with the government have also led to bureaucratic obstacles. The company leads executives from large state -owned companies, which are likely to bring with them a traditional style from top to bottom. “They will not move quickly and break things,” he explains.

Although Qianvan has the support of the Shanghai municipal government, experts say it is working more like modern work and rented experienced executives from the financing and business sectors, and this may be the reason for this faster than Guanga.

But there is a single bottleneck that is dangerous for both projects currently: the availability of missiles. While China launches a large number of missiles annually, it must be shared between various projects, including satellites for remote mobility and sensing. More importantly, China still does not have any reusable missiles that can be operated so far, which was necessary for Starlink to keep its rapid and economic launch rhythm.

Qianfan submitted two public purchases requests this year to missile suppliers, but they announced failures because they did not receive enough offers. While there are many Chinese commercial companies that develop reusable missiles, nothing is ready for peak time. “We can start solving the bottleneck in the next two years, but it is also possible that the bottleneck can remain large,” says Corsius.

Starlink alternative

Guwang and Qianfan seem to have avoided competition directly with each other so far by targeting different markets. Guowang, which has more central government support, can be assigned to use of national security. According to what was reported, Taiwan received intelligence that Chinese military training throughout the island seeks to verify whether the forces are operating in the area and can direct Chinese missiles to obtain possible strikes in the West Pacific, according to a report It was published by the Atlantic Council last month.

Qanfan, on the other hand, puts himself as a competitor to Starlink for the international market. Map of Chiafan actors It was presented at the Space Industry Conference In China last year, it showed that it was already working in six markets: Brazil, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Oman, Pakistan and Uzbekistan. The map also says it plans to go to twenty others in 2025, including countries such as India, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Argentina and many Africa.