On June 8, Beijing time, at the beginning of this month, the first nine satellites created by Geely Holding Group for future travel were launched. Geely's Zhejiang spacetime Daoyu Technology Co., Ltd. is responsible for the development of these satellites. its CEO Wang Yang said that compared with the plan formulated by Elon Musk for SpaceX, the company's ambition is much milder**
Wangyang, CEO of spacetime Daoyu
On June 2, the nine satellites took the Long March 2C carrier rocket into space and successfully entered the predetermined orbit. This makes spacetime Daoyu one of the first Chinese companies to start assembling satellite constellations. This satellite constellation was pioneered by SpaceX, which has more than 2000 satellites in orbit.
Differences with SpaceX
"We all have the background of automobile manufacturing. We all hope that aerospace technology and satellites can feed back automobile manufacturing and travel," Wang Yang said in an interview on Tuesday. "The difference lies in our goal of manufacturing satellites."
SpaceX is putting its "Starlink" satellites into orbit to build an Internet service constellation, which will become a low-cost alternative to the vulnerable long-range land-based systems. SpaceX also launches rockets for global satellite operators, the US military and NASA.
In contrast, spacetime Daoyu has a milder ambition. It plans to deploy a much smaller network to help Geely and other companies acquire and transmit autonomous driving data. Wang Yang said that spacetime Daoyu is expected to have 72 satellites by the end of 2025 and 168 satellites by the end of this decade.
Wang Yang said: "we hope to provide users with the ultimate travel experience, while SpaceX is more focused on low delay broadband, providing high-speed broadband access for 7billion people around the world."
Technology transfer
Spacetime Daoyu is following in the footsteps of China's rival Galaxy aerospace, which put six satellites into orbit in March. With an average weight of 190 kg, these satellites are among the first projects in China to develop constellations in low earth orbit.
"Compared with the star chain, the constellation of China is very small." The Global Times said in a report on the launch. The report also added that China "will make greater efforts to promote the application and transfer of space technology in the next five years".
Wang Yang said that spacetime Daoyu intends to do its part to open its network to other brands, and more information will be released within three months.
"Geely's future partners will not be limited to Geely's ecosystem and auto brands," he said. "We are also building partnerships with other industries." (author / Xiao Yu)