Although we don't like Americans, we don't like MuskBut I have to admit that Musk's Starlink technology and concept are indeed very advanced
Musk's Starlink includes reusable rocket technology, multi-satellite technology, simple satellite mass production technology, satellite orbit control technology, etc., and the concept of low-orbit Internet broadband satellites is also very advanced in the world. Although the network broadband has not yet been realized, they have realized the cheapness of satellite mobile phone communication, and so farMusk's Starlink users have exceeded 2 million
The principle of Starlink seems simple, but the actual operation is very complicatedChina has tried to reproduce the Starlink project many times, but without exception, all of them have failed
Around 2010, the Aerospace Science and Technology Group and the Aviation Science and Industry Group respectively came up with the "Hongyan" constellation system and the "Hongyun" constellation system. Among them, the first phase of the Hongyan constellation satellite project, consisting of 60 satellites, and the entire system has 324 satellites, which is planned to be completed in 2025. The "Hongyun" constellation plans to launch 156 satellites to achieve global networking, and the construction will be completed in 2025. As a result, in 2018, both projects launched an experimental satelliteThen there was no news at all, and none of the two networking projects officially started
Guodian Hi-Tech has made a Apocalypse Internet of Things constellation, which has completed the preliminary networking as a low-orbit constellation, but it is only a narrowband communication constellation, which can only be used for Internet of Things data collection.
China has built so many constellations, either the project itself is not feasible, or the plan is small in scale and far less competitive than the Starlink plan, so it has been abandoned. There are also scales that are okay, but the technology itself is not strong enough to have the possibility of further upgrades.
It can be seen that the Starlink constellation project seems simple, but there are still many complex technical problems that need to be solved in actual operationIt's not something that can be done quickly overnight.
It wasn't until 2020 that my country came up with the GW Giant Constellation plan, which just now has the capital to confront Starlink. GW Mega Constellation Project,Its size is 12,992 pieces, distributed at two altitudes of about 500-600 km and 1100 km. This project integrates all the previous failed or semi-finished Starlink projects in China, including the constellation network of "Hongyan", "Hongyun" and "Apocalypse" mentioned earlierIt can be said that this is the only constellation network in the world that can be benchmarked against Starlink, and there is no third one in the world
Compared with Starlink, China's GW started a little later, so it is far inferior to Starlink in terms of current scale, and it can only be said that it has the potential to become the next Starlink. ButThe non-terrestrial network system jointly developed by China Mobile, ZTE and Keysight Technology has made this potential realize its combat effectiveness in advance
On November 13, China officially announced the experimental results of non-terrestrial networks, released 5G NTN technology, and Huawei officially released the research results of a new generation of mobile phones directly connected to satellites in Chongqing. To put it simply, China's GW satellite has the power of a 5G base station, which truly realizes the ultimate goal of Starlink design, that is, to realize the direct connection of the ground network through the satellite as a base station. This technology has not been successfully broken through by Starlink until now.
At present, China's GW constellation is equal to Starlink, which is better in scale, but the key technology is missing, and it is a high-end semi-finished product. Although China's GW constellation is a little worse in scale, it is more technically functionalIt's just a matter of time before we surpass Starlink.
Many people are chasing Musk and saying that he is a real-life version of Iron Man, but China has proved with practical actions that what Musk can't do, China can do.