Constellation Satellite Internet _ National Internet Satellite Constellation

The "Wuhan" satellite launched a constellation that will be built soon, making Internet signals everywhere.

"Wuhan" belongs to the space-based Internet of Things constellation based on satellite communication, and the whole constellation is planned to consist of 80 satellites.

This project called "Cloud Plan" plans to provide satellite-based communication services for the whole world. In the future, no matter the sea, mountains and deserts in Wang Yang are covered by satellite constellations, there will be signals, which will provide ubiquitous Internet of Things services for ocean, ships, electricity and other fields.

Xingyun 02 satellite. China Aerospace Science and Technology Industry

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Why is it named Wuhan?

According to public information, Kuaizhou and Xingyun satellites are from China Aerospace Sanjiang Group Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Group Co., Ltd., China Aerospace Science and Industry Co., Ltd. is one of the two aerospace central enterprises in China, and Aerospace Sanjiang is its subsidiary, headquartered in Wuhan.

On March 201August 15, Aerospace Xingyun Technology Co., Ltd. (referred to as Xingyun Company) unveiled the space-based Internet of Things plan, and the first "Made in Hubei" space-based Internet of Things was launched. Zhang Yong, deputy general manager of China Aerospace Sanjiang Group Co., Ltd. and chairman of Xingyun Company, introduced at that time that the company is committed to developing and launching small satellites in low orbit, networking to form constellations, building space-based Internet of Things, and realizing seamless acquisition, transmission and sharing of global Internet of Things information.

The launch mission of Kuaizhou-1 A rocket is a mature small solid launch vehicle. It has completed eight commercial launches before, and it has been successful every time.

It is worth mentioning that the Rockets are in Wuhan. In order to show respect and gratitude to the medical staff, the rocket arrow body is painted with a "collective portrait of the medical staff".

"Paying tribute to the group image of medical workers" painted by the rocket body. Photo courtesy of China Aerospace Science and Technology

What did Wuhan do in heaven?

On March 29th, the "Nebula Project" satellite team has all arrived at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. According to the plan, in the middle and late April, the two starting stars of the Nebula project will be sent into space in the form of one arrow and two stars.

This time, the satellites Xingyun-2 0 1 and 02 were launched. Among them, "Wuhan" is Xingyun No.2 0 1 star.

According to official information, the two satellites were developed by Aerospace Xingyun Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Aerospace Sanjiang, and will undertake the "space-based Internet of Things" communication transmission service function with low orbit covering the whole world, and carry out application tests in industries such as containers, oceans, ships, electric power, ground disasters, environment, forestry and construction machinery.

Xingyun Company plans to launch 80 small nebula satellites in three stages: α, β and γ. 20 17, 17 in June, the first technical verification showed that the nebula test 1 was successfully launched into orbit by the Kuaizhou-1 rocket.

Specifically, the alpha phase is trial operation and demonstration project construction, and it is planned to build a system consisting of Xingyun-2 0 1 and 02 satellites. In the beta phase, small-scale networking will be realized, the construction of small constellation system will be completed, and the first phase of system operation and market development will be carried out. Complete the whole system construction in γ stage and open up domestic and foreign markets such as "Belt and Road".

Launched this month, the alpha phase of the project will be started after Nebula II 0 1 and 02 are put into orbit.

According to this project, compared with the traditional Internet of Things, the space-based Internet of Things has many advantages. The system covers a wide range and can realize global communication without blind areas. At present, more than 80% of the world's land and more than 95% of the world's oceans are not covered by mobile cellular networks. In remote areas such as oceans, islands and deserts, the space-based Internet of Things can play a vital role.

Schematic diagram of the service site after the completion of Xingyun Project.

Photo courtesy of China Aerospace Science and Technology

What is the market environment of Wuhan?

In recent years, small satellite constellation has become a hot field in the commercial aerospace market, and many aerospace companies have announced ambitious constellation plans, ranging from hundreds of satellites to tens of thousands of satellites.

Among them, the most popular competition field is LEO communication satellite constellation, that is, the constellation that provides satellite Internet for users. For example, Hongyun Constellation, the brother constellation of China Aerospace Science and Technology, plans to build a satellite broadband Internet consisting of 156 satellites, so that users in deserts, oceans and airplanes can also enjoy high-quality Internet services.

Similar plans in China include the "Hongyan" communication satellite constellation of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. 20 18 12.29, the first experimental star of Hongyan constellation was successfully launched in Jiuquan.

According to the official news, the "Hongyan" constellation plans to complete the networking operation of 60 satellites in the first phase of the system by 2022, becoming the first system in China to meet the basic satellite data communication requirements. The second phase is expected to be completed in 2025. The "Hongyan" constellation system consists of hundreds of broadband communication satellites, which can realize Internet access anywhere in the world.

On a global scale, starlink of Space Exploration Technology Company is in a leading position.

20/kloc-from 0/9 to 2020, Space Exploration Technology Company used six Falcon rockets to send 360 standardized satellite chains into space at the speed of 60 satellites at a time. The satellite chain plan is huge. The first step is to complete the initial coverage with 1600 satellites, with an orbital height of1150km. The second step is to complete the global networking with 2825 satellites. In the third step, a total of1.20 thousand satellites will form a low-orbit constellation to provide high-speed Internet services at the 5G level for the whole world.

In addition, there are the Project Kuiper project of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, and related constellations proposed by companies such as Inmarsat, Intelsat SA and Eutelsat Communications SA.

As early as 1990s, Motorola built an iridium constellation consisting of 66 satellites. However, due to the rapid development of submarine cable and optical fiber technology, iridium satellite has high cost and few users, and it went bankrupt after running for 15 months.

Xing Qiang, an aerospace expert and founder of WeChat official account, believes that compared with Iridium, the satellite chain has lower launch cost, wider users and more advanced communication technology, so it is more optimistic than Iridium.

Editor ZhangChang proofreads Cece.