China launches its most powerful low-orbiting communication satellite

[Video by Liu Wei/provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China's most powerful low-orbiting communication satellite, also the biggest spacecraft ever built by a private Chinese company, was launched on Thursday morning in Northwest China.

The GalaxySpace 1, designed and built by the Beijing-based startup GalaxySpace, has also been widely considered the country's first 5G-capable satellite that features a very strong capability in data transmission.

The 200-kilogram satellite was lifted at 11:02 am atop a Kuaizhou 1A solid-propellant carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, according to a statement from GalaxySpace.

It has a transmission capacity of 10 Gigabits per second and uses multiple bands such as Q/V and Ka, the company said.

China has been using all-out efforts to boost and promote the 5G communication technology, regarding it as one of the major driving forces for future social and economic development.