Chinese state media have launched a campaign to promote China’s accomplishments in developing its own Starlink-like technique following tech giant Elon Musk’s SpaceX’s success in October when its returning Super Heavy capsule was captured by a gigantic piece of mechanised” sticks.”
In China, at least three companies are trying to catch up with SpaceX’s Starlink, which aims to send 42, 000 satellites to low Earth orbit ( LEO ) in the coming decades. So much 6, 426 Starlink satellites have been sent.  ,
One of the group is China Satellite Network Group Co, a Hebei-based state-owned-enterprise. It operates the GW program, which refers to GuoWang or actually means” National Networks” in Taiwanese, and aims to build a Chinese version of Starlink with about 13, 000 satellites.
Shanghai Weixiao Satellite Engineering Center, a division of the Chinese Academy of Science, is another one. Its G60 or Qianfan strategy aims to deliver 12, 000 observatories to LEO by 2027.
The second one is Shanghai Lanjian Hongqing Technology Co, in which the Beijing-based LandSpace has a 48 % interest. Zhang Changwu, a former national at the Ministry of Land and Resources, founded the privately held company LandSpace. Lanjian Hongqing’s Honghu-3 plan may send 10, 000 observatories to LEO.
” After seeing SpaceX’s successful launch on October 13, many foreign media have mocked China”, Lei Xiangping, a commentator with the state-owned China Central TV (CCTV ), says in an opinion piece published on Thursday. ” Fortunately, China has already fought back in the following three days” . ,
Lei claims that China has stretched its muscle by launching the Gaofen-12 05 distant sensing dish on Wednesday via a Long March-4C aircraft jet in Gansu and sending 18 conversation satellites for the Qianfan system via a Long March-6A jet in Shanxi on Tuesday.  ,
By 2030, he claims, Taiwanese companies will send more than 15, 000 satellites to LEO.  ,
There will be no more room and speed in the orbit for other places when Starlink’s plan for sending 42, 000 observatories to LEO is finished, he claims. China may accelerate its spacecraft start plans in order to compete for resources in LEO.
He even claims that Beijing needs to move quickly with its Qianfan system, which will allow the People’s Liberation Army to conduct high-resolution military surveillance missions all over the world.  ,
” In this emerging field, whoever has the most advanced technologies and controls the sources may like a proper edge”, he says.  ,
The latest two powerful satellite launches, according to The Global Times, demonstrated China’s growing expertise in space technology and exceedingly strong capabilities for space applications on Wednesday.
” This success reflects the dedication of China’s aircraft workers in upholding the soul of the’ Two explosives, one dish,'” the newspaper said.  ,
China’s” Two weapons, one dish” system refers to the barrages of the country’s first nuclear weapon in 164 and second gas bomb in 1967 and the release of its first satellite in 1970.  ,
Who mocked China?
Gao Tianwei, a technology columnist with China’s Guancha.cn, on Monday commented on the SpaceX booster’s successful landing.
In its most recent flight launch, SpaceX significantly improved. Should China follow suit and speed up its development”? Gao says.
He claims that China should not be in a rush to launch its Long March 9, a super heavy carrier rocket that is similar to SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster but has a nine-meter diameter and parallel engines. He claims that this is because the nation has already become the No. 1 nation in the world. 2 in terms of aerospace technology.
He also says China would prefer to invest in projects that have been proven feasible, for example, reusable medium-lift launch vehicles like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.  ,
Gao only reiterates Beijing’s official position that Long March 9 will not be accessible until 2033, so there is no such thing as a problem with his remarks.  ,
But when the China Times, a Taiwanese newspaper, on Monday cited Gao’s comments, it used a negative headline and said that China will have to wait for a long time before it can achieve SpaceX’s breakthroughs.  ,
Lianhe Zaobao, a Singaporean newspaper, on Tuesday published a commentary with the title” Did Musk’s Starship outshine China’s rockets”? According to the statement, some Chinese media members worry that China wo n’t be able to compete with the US in space technology.  ,
On Wednesday and Thursday, Chinese state media responded to all these media reports.  ,
Mo Jiangli, a Shandong-based writer, says it’s unfair that foreign media only praised Musk’s Starship but not LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 reusable test rocket, which successfully completed a 10 kilometer vertical takeoff on September 11.  ,
Separately, Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Technology, another private firm like LandSpace, is developing a reusable launch vehicle called Nebula-1. During its first test on September 22, the vehicle had a difficult landing.
Read more: China and SpaceX have various plans for Mars.
Follow Jeff Pao on Twitter at , @jeffpao3