China has taken its model of digital control beyond Earth’s atmosphere with the launch of the world’s first prototype “Satellite Internet Firewall,” a development that rights advocates say represents the extension of Beijing’s Great Firewall into orbit.

According to Human Rights in China (HRIC), a New York-based nongovernmental organization founded in 1989, the payload was launched on September 5, 2025, aboard a Ceres-1 (Yao-15) carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The project was developed by the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) and integrates a mix of artificial intelligence, anomaly detection, on-board inspection, autonomous decision-making, and even “intelligent deception” designed to mislead potential attackers.

HRIC described the launch

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