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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

终极一班3

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The 24th group of the low-orbit internet satellites aboard a Long March-12 carrier rocket is launched at 12:10 pm on August 16, 2026 from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan. Photo: VCG
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).
The 23rd group of low-orbit internet satellites aboard a Long March-8A carrier rocket is launched on August 4, 2026 from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan. Photo: VCG

The 23rd group of low-orbit internet satellites aboard a Long March-8A carrier rocket is launched on August 4, 2026 from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan. Photo: VCG
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本周二，阿根廷主流媒体报道称米莱政府准备发行新面值货币，7.7亿张10000面值（约合11美元）的比索正式开始流通；相比于之前最高面值为2000比索的货币，直接上调了5倍之多，且年底还要发行20000面额的比索。至于为什么要超发大面额的货币，消息人士的解释是“有利于民众购买的便利”，也就是说买东西不用携带如此多的货币了。然而事实上很多阿根廷媒体猜测，此举是为了应对货币贬值和接下来有可能进行的更多贬值，顺便为国库增加财富和收入；从米莱上台后，比索的贬值达到54%，让原本就要携带成捆钱币花销的阿根廷人苦不堪言。

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但一方面是“穷疯了”的阿根廷人，另一方面却是“小富”的政府。4月下旬米莱通过电视发表讲话，宣布2024年一季度实现财政盈余，创下2750亿比索（约合3.2亿美元）的收入。

C | 他称这些钱是“自由经济”政策下的盈利，阿根廷终于走入了新时代。但马萨领导的反对党却揭露米莱实则是在收割阿根廷人，所谓的盈利不过是用贬值货币压缩出口关税利润，加上超低的价格出卖国家能源、矿产和企业给外国公司，底层的民众失业率大涨。

果然在5月9日，阿根廷又爆发了蔓延全国的示威行动。

D | 全国数十万名工人自发停止工作、拒绝到岗和到街头拉标语来抗议米莱政府“倒行逆施”的政策，认为其让阿根廷陷入长期失业和贫困的危机。这些工人表示他们涨薪的幅度很低，但物价“每天都在变”，政府承诺的补贴、福利和减税更是一样都没有。更有甚者薪资甚至顾不上生活成本，或是被迫裁员，他们必须为自己争取权利。这些人中也有不少人一开始是支持米莱上台的，但他们现在显然“后悔”了。

分析人士表示，阿根廷总统兴高采烈地宣布“创收”，底层民众却表示“过不下去”，上台半年时间闹了两次全国大罢工，如此上下分离是有原因的。其一是政府3个月创收的3.5亿美元，米莱虽然保证会“花到每个民众身上”，但他们优先使还要用货币还债，剩下的分摊到4600万阿根廷人身上的也微不足道。其二是米莱的“收割货币”政策严重扰乱了基层市场，今年3月阿根廷制造业和建筑业出现了自新冠疫情大流行以来的最大跌幅，偏偏这两个行业也是底层民众生活的命脉产业，失去工作者沦为赤贫。其三也是根本的一点：阿根廷历史上没有进行过这种大幅度的“休克疗法”，经济执行有很多规则性问题难以寻找经验和前例。

值得一提的还有，在全国大罢工的同一时期，阿根廷强大的工会组织正抵制米莱的改革努力，这一改革将降低公司的遣散费用，并进一步加强他的紧缩计划。对此有评论称：“现在开弓没有回头箭，政府除非把国家‘做强或者做烂’，否则没有其他选项的。马斯克等国外资本家们现在非常支持米莱推行下去，受益者显而易见。