HELSINKI — China added to its Guowang national broadband megaconstellation Wednesday with the 600th Long March rocket launch, marking a milestone in the country’s accelerating spaceflight cadence.
A Long March 8A rocket lifted off at 9:33 p.m. Eastern, Oct. 15 (0133 UTC, Oct. 16) from launch pad 1 at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center on Hainan island, south China. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced the success of the launch via its Chinese language social media channels, revealing the previously undisclosed payload to be the 12th group of satellite internet satellites.
CASC’s China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), which has developed both small and large satellite buses for the constellation, provided the satellites for the mission. While