China's Starlink competitor takes off, marks progress in space race
China has launched its first Long March 8A rocket, signifying a significant step in its efforts to compete with Elon Musk's Starlink, News.Az reports citing Investing.
The rocket took off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in Hainan, an island province in the South China Sea, in its debut mission. The launch occurred at 5:30 p.m. local time and carried a group of low-Earth orbit satellites into space.
According to the China Daily newspaper, the Long March 8A rocket will be utilized in the near future to deploy a large number of satellites for China's expansive space-based internet networks. The information was provided by Song Zhengyu, a senior rocket scientist at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.
The China Daily also reported that several internet satellite networks are currently under construction in China, but details about these projects are not being prominently publicized.
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