🛰️ China files application to launch a constellation of... 200,000 satellites!

Our planet's orbital landscape is on the verge of an unprecedented transformation. Through an administrative procedure largely unknown to the general public, China has just initiated a request that could potentially reshape access to low Earth orbit for decades to come. Documents submitted to the international regulatory body reveal the ambition to deploy up to 200,000 satellites, a figure that far exceeds the most ambitious current projects.

This initiative presents the international community with a major strategic fait accompli. It takes place in a domain where the rules, established by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), favor the first arrivals. The filing of these requests, far more than a simple technical project, could constitute a maneuver to appropriate limited orbital resources and radio frequencies. This action is directly part of the strategic competition between major space powers for control of low Earth orbit.

An administrative maneuver with concrete implications

The procedure followed is as discreet as it is decisive. The China Radio Innovation and Technology Spectrum Application Research Institute, a Chinese entity, has officially notified the ITU of its intention to deploy two mega-constellations named CTC-1 and CTC-2. Each is planned to host nearly 97,000 satellites, distributed across several thousand distinct orbits. This administrative formality is the first mandatory step to secure usage rights.

These Chinese requests are not isolated. More than a dozen of the country's operators and companies, including telecommunications giant China Mobile, have simultaneously submitted their own projects to the ITU. The total number of satellites mentioned across all these filings approaches the symbolic threshold of 200,000 units. This coordination seems to suggest a concerted national strategy.

The immediate stake is not the physical launch of the satellites, but the priority securing of orbital "slots" and frequency bands. ITU regulations indeed grant rights to the first filers, forcing newcomers to prove that their systems will not interfere with predecessors. By filing massively, China thus locks up entire portions of orbital space for future use, considerably complicating competitors' projects.

A gap between strategic ambition and industrial capabilities

The actual realization of such a project today seems like an extraordinary industrial challenge. Observers in the sector, including in China, express palpable skepticism. The CEO of satellite manufacturer Spacety, Yang Feng, stated that being ahead in filing requests does not prejudge the ability to successfully carry out the launches. Indeed, transforming these plans into operational constellations faces major obstacles.

The country's production and launch capacity, although growing rapidly, is still far from the required volumes. The Chinese space industry is capable of producing a few hundred satellites per year and achieved a record of 92 launches in 2025. To reach the theoretical goal of 200,000 satellites in 7 years – the ITU's regulatory timeframe – this pace would need to be multiplied considerably, a scenario unrealistic in the short and medium term. This disproportion between the stated ambition and the concrete means fuels the analysis that the primary objective is strategic rather than operational.