What is China’s SpaceSail, and could it rival Elon Musk’s Starlink?

Elon Musk’s Starlink has long dominated the satellite internet industry, but a Chinese government-backed project is aiming to challenge its position. SpaceSail has just a few hundred satellites in low Earth orbit compared with Starlink’s 10,000-plus. But the company says it now has enough satellites to begin its first commercial application, is scaling up at speed, and is reportedly negotiating with dozens of countries to provide satellite internet coverage. According to Blaine Curcio, founder of Hong Kong-based firm Orbital Gateway Consulting, SpaceSail is “deliberately targeting” places where Starlink has faced “political or regulatory issues”. Speaking to the Rest of World news outlet, he compared its playbook to Chinese electric car maker BYD, which utilised billions in government subsidies to overtake Tesla in global sales. The company’s recent fundraising round was dwarfed by Starlink owner SpaceX’s record-breaking $85.7bn initial public offering, but could China’s growing global strength enable SpaceSail to make headway? What is SpaceSail? The project – officially called the SpaceSail Constellation in English, or Qianfan (Thousand Sails) in Chinese – was launched in 2023 by state-backed firm Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), with the goal of providing “high-speed, secure and reliable” broadband internet worldwide. …