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China accelerates LEO satellite deployment with two launches in 12 days, but gap remains in launchpad efficiency, rocket reusability: expert_我的网站

A |     Rumours about Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita Dhulipala expecting their first child have once again gained traction online, nearly a year after the couple got married. Since tying the knot on December 4 last year in an intimate ceremony, the actors have frequently found themselves at the centre of speculation, though they have largely chosen not to address such chatter.          The latest buzz was reignited after Nagarjuna, veteran actor and Chaitanya’s father, was asked about the possibility of becoming a grandfather. During a recent interaction with Suman TV, Nagarjuna was questioned about whether there was any truth to him “getting a promotion from father to grandfather.” Initially laughing off the question and attempting to walk away, he later offered a brief but intriguing response. When pressed again, Nagarjuna smiled and said, “I’ll let you know when the time is right.” While the actor did not confirm or deny the rumours, his measured reply was enough to spark congratulatory messages and renewed speculation on social media.                                                                      View this post on Instagram          A post shared by Sobhita Dhulipala (@sobhitad)                    Naga Chaitanya and Sobhita Dhulipala’s wedding in December 2024 was a private yet emotionally significant affair for the Akkineni family. Sharing photos from the ceremony, Nagarjuna had penned a heartfelt note welcoming Sobhita into the family and expressing his joy at watching the couple begin a new chapter together. He also noted the deeper meaning of the celebration, which took place under the blessings of his late father, ANR garu, whose statue was installed to mark his centenary year.          Before his marriage to Sobhita, Chaitanya was married to actor Samantha Ruth Prabhu. The two met on the sets of Ye Maaya Chesave (2010), married in 2017, and announced their separation in 2021. Samantha recently remarried filmmaker Raj Nidimoru in a private ceremony held in Coimbatore earlier this month.      Also Read: Sobhita Dhulipala Calls Naga Chaitanya Her ’lover’ in Adorable Birthday Post。    

    The 24th group of the low-orbit internet satellites aboard a Long March-12 carrier rocket is launched at 12:10 pm on August 16, 2026 from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan. Photo: VCG
Two successful launches among China's recent frequent moves caught particular attention of space watchers - the 24th group of low-Earth orbit internet (LEO) satellites aboard a Long March-12 rocket was sent from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan on Sunday, 12 days after the 23rd group of LEO satellites aboard a Long March-8A rocket was launched from the same Hainan site on August 4.
Sunday's mission marked the 663rd launch of the Long March series of carrier rockets, which on Monday sent an SEO satellite into preset orbit, per Xinhua.
Experts said the launches of two groups of LEO satellites within 12 days underlined that China is notably accelerating its pace of building its satellite internet constellation.
"The launch of LEO satellites has now entered a regular and cyclical rhythm, with batches of satellites continuously being sent into orbit at relatively stable intervals," Kang Guohua, a senior member of the Chinese Society of Astronautics and a professor of Aerospace Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told the Global Times on Monday.
China launched the first group of LEO internet satellites on December 16, 2024, proceeding to the 24th batch in about 20 months. Kang said three major production and launch "assembly lines" are supporting the effort: satellite factories featuring centralized design in Beijing, coordinated supply chains and mass production; rockets with streamlined launch and testing procedures and multiple configurations; and launch sites capable of supporting routine constellation deployment.
The Long March-12, which played a key role in the latest LEO satellite launch, is China's first 4-meter-class single-core-stage carrier rocket and was specifically developed for commercial launch needs. It is about 62.6 meters long, has a liftoff mass of 430 tons and can carry more than 12 tons to low-Earth orbit. Its first stage is equipped with four 1,250-kilonewton pump-fed liquid oxygen-kerosene engines and uses a newly developed coal-based aerospace kerosene, according to Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.
The rocket adopts a "three-horizontal" launch preparation model: horizontal assembly, horizontal testing and horizontal transportation. Depending on mission requirements, it can use fairings with diameters of 4.2 or 5.2 meters and support both single-satellite and multi-satellite launches into different orbits.
"This flexibility makes the Long March-12 particularly suitable for the 'one rocket, multiple satellites' model required for constellation deployment, making it one of the main launch vehicles currently used for LEO constellation missions," Kang said.
The mission also highlighted the launch site's growing ability to support high-frequency launches. The rocket took only two and a half days from being transported to the launch area to liftoff, setting a record for the shortest time a rocket occupied the launch position at the site, Kang said.
Despite the rapid progress, experts cautioned that the 228 satellites currently in orbit remain some distance from the ultimate goal. China's satellite internet project has a long-term goal of deploying nearly 8,000 satellites and is now in an accelerated "weaving" phase.
China's advantage lies in its ability to control costs and boost production efficiency once satellite manufacturing reaches mass-production scale, another expert surnamed Liu told the Global Times.
"Whether it is the production capacity of AI centers or the factory in Hainan, which has an annual satellite manufacturing capacity of 1,000 units, satellite production itself is not the problem," Liu said. "More bottlenecks lie in the operational efficiency of launch pads and the rocket payload and recovery technology."
The real challenge lies in rocket reusability. Only by lowering launch costs and increasing launch frequency can China sustain a pace of more than one launch per week. This is also the strategic significance of accelerating the development of reusable rocket technology, including the Long March-10B and privately developed rockets, Kang further noted.
Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Deng Zhongliang previously said in an interview that satellite internet will serve as an indispensable space-time infrastructure for 6G, enabling emerging industries worth trillions of yuan, including the low-altitude economy, advanced autonomous driving and the Internet of Things (IoT).
    The 23rd group of low-orbit internet satellites aboard a Long March-8A carrier rocket is launched on August 4, 2026 from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan. Photo: VCG
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