On January 16th at 3:02 AM (UTC), a Chinese Kuaizhou 1A rocket launched the YinHe-1 mission. This is a technology demonstration for a Chinese company called GalaxySpace, whose goal is to have a Low Earth Orbit constellation that can provide global coverage for 5G communication networks with a focus on rural areas.  The company plans on having a constellation of up to 1000 satellites. For those of you worried about 1000 dead satellites in orbit: these satellites will be able to automatically de-orbit themselves and burn up in the atmosphere.

You can find out more about this launch at:

• YinHe-1 (RocketLaunch Live) https://www.rocketlaunch.live/launch/yinhe-1
• Kuaizhou-1A lofts Yinhe-1 for China (NASA Space Flight) https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/01/kuaizhou-1a-yinhe-1-china/
• Yinhe 1 (Gunter’s Space Page) https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/yinhe-1.htm
• GalaxySpace http://www.yinhe.ht/indexEn.html
• Launch media: https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1217673186151739392