China blasts off 18 communications satellites from Hainan

China launched a group of 18 communications satellites from the Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Center — a coastal spaceport in Wenchang, Hainan province — on Tuesday night, deploying the seventh batch of space-based assets of the Spacesail Constellation in orbit.

Built by Shanghai-based Innovation Academy for Microsatellites for satellite operator Spacesail, the plate-shaped satellites were carried by a Long March 8 rocket that blasted off at 9:32 pm and soon arrived in their preset orbital positions.

After the launch, 126 satellites have been lifted into space by six rockets for the Spacesail Constellation.

Previously known as the G60 network, the Spacesail Constellation is intended to provide high-speed, secure and reliable broadband internet services to users around the world, and is designed to consist of as many as more than 10,000 satellites traveling in low-altitude orbits before the end of 2030, according to Spacesail.

Designed and built by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the Long March 8 rocket model has two core stages and two side boosters. It has six engines propelled by liquid oxygen, liquid hydrogen, and kerosene. The rocket is 50.3 meters tall and 3.35 meters wide. With a liftoff weight of 356 metric tons and a thrust of nearly 480 tons, it is capable of sending payloads of up to 7.6 tons to a low-Earth orbit.

The launch marked the 22nd space mission in China this year and the 636th flight of the Long March rocket fleet.