Why the coronavirus slowed China’s plan to take on Elon Musk’s internet satellites

Two state-owned companies are racing to catch up with SpaceX’s Starlink to provide internet from space

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In February, GalaxySpace’s first 5G satellite completed its first communications test. (Picture: GalaxySpace/WeChat)

Xinmei Shen

Published: 11:49pm, 15 Apr 2020Updated: 12:58am, 16 Apr 2020

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

The coronavirus pandemic has shown just how essential the internet has become to modern life. Many people confined at home have relied on it to work, socialise and order the things they need for daily life. But it’s also something that only half of the world’s population has access to.

Companies in the US and China have been racing to change that by using low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to drench the world in internet coverage. The hope is to reach areas that land-based cables can’t cover.

In trying to catch up with the US, China has ramped up its efforts to become a major satellite internet provider. To accomplish this, state-owned and private companies in China plan to launch thousands of satellites into LEO.

Satellites that will form part of SpaceX's Starlink constellation await release into orbit from a Falcon 9 rocket on May 24, 2019. (Picture: SpaceX)

This year was supposed to be when China accelerated internet satellite launches. Now it looks like the coronavirus might be shifting the timeline.

Why do we need internet from space?

By the end of 2018, 51 per cent of the world’s population was online, according to data from the International Telecommunications Union. That leaves 49 per cent of the world’s population, or roughly 3.8 billion people, without access to a resource that many people have grown dependent on and take for granted.