China is sending more signals that it will move aggressively toward building its own satellite network in space to realized applications such as Starlink, a satellite internet constellation being constructed by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
On March 7, Bao Weimin, member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and director of the Science and Technology Committee of the Aerospace Science and Technology Group, said in an interview with Chinese media:
“China is planning and developing space Internet satellites and has launched test satellites. We will also establish a national satellite network company to be responsible for coordinating the planning and operation of space satellite Internet network construction.”
In 2020, satellite Internet was included in the scope of China’s New Infrastructure policy initiative, ushering the sector into a stage of explosive growth going forward.
Of course, satellite Internet in space provides many more applications beyond providing Internet access to people in remote areas, like SpaceX’s Starlink.
In its narrow definition, satellite Internet is a high-speed communication network in space, using multiple satellites to form broadband communication network coverage.
This service is more suitable for countries and regions with large areas and sparsely populated areas to solve the communication needs for areas without telecommunication base stations.
In its broad definition, satellite Internet provides satellite network solutions based on communications, navigation, and remote sensing technologies to empower various industries.
Among them, with the satellites as an infrastructure, they are equivalent to mobile towers in space. In the future, they can carry various loads and sensors and form a network to form a distributed computing platform in space.
Combining with 5G, the Industrial Internet, and the Internet of Things, it can spawn a wealth of application scenarios: equipped with 5G payloads, it can meet broadband communications; equipped with cameras, it can achieve remote sensing; with navigation enhancements, it can support autonomous driving.
Assuming that the investment in infrastructure such as satellite development, launch, and ground facilities is about worth around 100 billion yuan in China, the revenue of midstream constellation operators will reach 200 billion yuan, and the market size of ground terminals and industrial applications based on satellite Internet may reach 700 billion yuan, says Xie Tao, founder of Beijing Commsat Technology Development Co., Ltd.
He predicts that 100,000 satellites might be deployed in low earth orbit in the future. Among them, there may be 50,000 to 60,000 satellites from the United States, 30,000 to 40,000 from China, and 10,000 to 20,000 from the United Kingdom, India, Russia and other countries.
Space X alone has launched more than 1,000 satellites in a year and a half. If the scale of 30,000 to 40,000 satellites is to be realized, thousands of satellites need to be deployed every year in the next few years.
However, the current domestic production capacity of micro-satellites is less than 100 per year, so there is at least a 90% gap in supply, says Xie.
These 100,000 satellites were predicted mainly based on them being satellite Internet in its narrow definition, that is, broadband communications in the early stage.
In the later period, it may evolve to the satellite Internet in a broad sense, including the integrated satellite application network of communication, navigation such as construction machinery, oil pipeline monitoring or container monitoring.
In addition, the demand for all-weather, all-time terrestrial resource monitoring and disaster warning has increased significantly, and the market space cannot be underestimated.
Beijing Commsat Technology is positioned as a service provider for the entire industry chain of low-orbit small satellites.
Based on the narrowly defined satellite Internet, it provides one-stop services for basic operators, from constellation design and demonstration, to satellite development and batch production, to satellite terminal research and development and operation model consulting.
The company has served industry customers in environmental protection, land and resources, smart agriculture, transportation and logistics, smart government, scientific research and education.
The company’s satellite factory in Tangshan has completed the main construction of the first phase of the production plant and is expected to enter the trial operation stage of production equipment at the end of June this year.
It is understood that after the completion of this satellite factory, it will realize short-period, low-cost, and flexible mass production of 50-700 kilogram-class satellites.
Beijing Commsat Technology was founded in 2015. In February and December 2018, its successfully launched the “Junior Star One” and 7 “Ladybug Series” satellites respectively, completed the system-level verification of the satellite Internet of Things.
At the beginning of 2021, it received a billion yuan-level strategic investment from the China Internet Investment Fund. This is the seventh round of financing it has completed.
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NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
