Chinese LEO satellite operator Geespace said on Friday it has launched a third batch of satellites for its planned LEOsat constellation that it says now covers 90% of the planet.
Geespace – a subsidiary of Chinese carmaker Zhejiang Geely Holding Group first established in 2018 – said in a statement that ten LEO satellites were launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in Shanxi for its Geely Future Mobility Constellation.
The latest launch follows the first batch launched in June 2022 and the second batch in February 2024, and brings the total number of Geespace satellites in orbit to 30.
Geespace plans to deploy 72 LEO satellites by 2025 for the first phase of the constellation, which it said will serve over 200 million users globally. The second phase will add another 264 satellites for mobile phone communications, while the third phase will launch 5,676 satellites for high-speed broadband services.
According to past statements by Geespace, its initial goal was to build a network to provide satellite communications to intelligent connected vehicles with self-driving capabilities. Since then, however, Geespace has said it also aims to compete in the satellite broadband, satellite IoT and direct-to-satellite mobile phone sectors, pitting it against just about every other LEO satellite player, from Starlink, Eutelsat OneWeb, Lynk Global and AST Spacemobile to Iridium, Globalstar and Orbcomm.
In June, Geespace said it had successfully tested the network outside of China for the first time with Oman-based satellite services provider Azyan Telecom.
Geespace isn’t China’s only entry in the LEO satellite race. Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST) plans to build constellation of 15,000 LEO satellites by 2030, although the launch of its first batch of satellites last month reportedly ended badly when the Long March 6A carrying the payload broke apart.
According to a Reuters report, the SSST network may have military as well as commercial objectives, as Beijing is said to be worried over claims about Starlink usage in military contexts. In February, for example, Ukrainian intelligence claimed that Russian forces were using Starlink satellites for connectivity in occupied lands.
