On CNSA –China National Space Administration …. ChangZheng Long March 8A Carrier flight rocket …. At Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center. Wenchang, Hainan Province, China, People’s Republic of China At 0348 Beijing time….. At 3:48 AM Beijing time on March 13, 2026, China successfully launched 20 satellites for low Earth orbit (LEO) internet into their predetermined orbits using a Long March-8A Y8 carrier rocket from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site. The launch mission was a complete success. This mission marked the 631st flight of the Long March series carrier rockets.
2026🇨🇳/Global Space Launch No. 11/51: 03-13 03:48, HICAL LCC-1, CZ-8A Y8, StarNet 50° LEO Group 12 (9 satellites), successfully launched.
[ 20 Satellites for Low Earth Orbit Launched Successfully ]
This group of satellites was developed by the Shanghai Microsatellite Engineering Center. To date, China’s StarNet low Earth orbit constellation has launched a total of 163 satellites in 20 groups: 8 groups (55 satellites) in near-polar orbit (86.5°) and 12 groups (108 satellites) in low Earth orbit (50°) (on par with Qianfan).
This launch mission marked the first time that the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site’s testing system achieved full-process independent support. In the previous 12 missions by Hainan Commercial Launch Site, the special fuel and gas testing reports issued by the laboratory had to be compared simultaneously with those of a third-party professional institution to confirm that there were no significant errors before they were valid. To change this passive situation, the entire laboratory actively carried out quality system construction in accordance with CMA (China Metrology Accreditation) requirements, and officially obtained CMA qualification on December 11, 2025, giving its issued inspection and testing reports legal validity. On January 23 this year, the testing system, tempered by 12 launch operations, passed a special review, fully forming independent support capabilities and capable of independently undertaking testing support tasks, marking a qualitative leap in the core support capabilities of the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site.
Images and visuals are from their Respectives CMS China Manned SpaceCNSA-China National Space Administration
