China applies to put 200,000 satellites in space

Chinese firms have signalled plans to launch more than 200,000 internet satellites, filing submissions with a UN agency just as Beijing accused Elon Musk’s SpaceX of crowding shared orbital resources.

A dozen or so submissions from various Chinese satellite players were filed with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) at the end of last month.

The biggest projects – CTC-1 and CTC-2 – were for 96,714 satellites each and filed by the newly established Institute of Radio Spectrum Utilisation and Technological Innovation.

The institute was registered in China’s northern Hebei province on December 30, the day after it submitted its ITU filings, according to the Radio Association of China.

The United States and China have been racing to launch internet satellite megaconstellations in recent years, with the US-based SpaceX taking a big lead with its Starlink constellation, which accounts for most of the satellites in low Earth orbit.

But radio frequency bands and orbital slots in low Earth orbit are limited, and first movers for those resources can gain priority.

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