The 18 satellites were the initial batch for China’s Qianfan ("Thousand Sails") broadband network, intended to serve as China’s equivalent of Elon Musk’s Starlink. They were launched on Tuesday aboard the Long March 6A rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi Province, North China.
The companies are Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation, Sierra Space Corporation, Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, Special Aerospace Services, ThinkOrbital and Vast Space.
