China launches 18 satellites at under $1.5M each as Spacesail constellation grows to 274
heyshrutimishra · x · 2026-11-04
CAS Space's Kinetica-2 rocket launched 18 satellites for China's Qianfan (Spacesail) constellation from Jiuquan, its second flight. Each 300 kg flat-panel satellite costs about 10 million yuan (<$1.5M) vs. up to 300 million yuan for a traditional comms satellite — a 96% cost drop that makes a mega-constellation viable.
- Qianfan has now launched 274 satellites, targeting 15,000+ by 2030, though it's behind schedule (originally 648 by end-2025).
- Three commercial launchers (LandSpace, Orienspace, CAS Space) fed the network within seven weeks.
- The author's read: launch capacity is the bottleneck, and China is fixing it by adding rockets rather than waiting on one.
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