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Chinese rocket firm Galactic Energy successfully puts satellite into orbit, 1st private launch since COVID-19

Chinese private rocket firm Galactic Energy successfully launched a carrier rocket and put a satellite into orbit on Saturday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the first orbital launch by a privately funded Chinese firm since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic.

The launch marked the second successful attempt by a Chinese private rocket firm since July 2019 following two failed launches in 2018 and early 2019. Saturday’s launch shows China’s private commercial space sector is becoming technologically mature and increasingly capable of handling satellite launch missions even during the pandemic, analysts said.

Named Ceres-1, the self-developed carrier rocket sent an Apocalypse-11 satellite to the 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), and Galactic Energy became the first Chinese private firm to reach that altitude.


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6G experiment satellite

The world’s first 6G experiment satellite was one of the three Chinese satellites successfully launched into orbit. It will verify the Tera Hertz communication technology in space, a breakthrough in space communication.
The “UESTC” satellite (Star Era-12), the first 6G test satellite in the world and first one named after the university since its establishment, was successfully lifted off at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and entered the scheduled orbit on the morning of Nov. 6. The satellite, developed jointly by Chengdu Guoxing Aerospace Technology and Beijing MinoSpace Technology, will be used in a pilot testing program to trial 6G technology in space. According to Yicai Media Group, 6G is more than 100 times faster than 5G – enables seamless transmission, longer distances, faster speeds, and smaller power output from space to land-based communication devices. 6G technology is still in the beginning stages, but Friday’s launch appears to show China has moved ahead of the US in space-based testing. Many hurdles are still expected with the technology as testing will start near term.