In Race Against Musk’s Starlink, China Launches Its 28th Batch of Low-Earth-Orbit Internet Satellites

China launched a new batch of low-Earth-orbit internet satellites on Sunday, October 25, 2026, at 10:03 a.m. Beijing time, using a Long March 8A rocket from the commercial space launch site in Wenchang, Hainan. It was the program’s 28th batch and the 674th mission by the Long March rocket family. Beijing is developing three networks to compete with Starlink—Guowang, Qianfan and Honghu-3—with a combined target of nearly 38,000 satellites. China’s launch pace remains behind Starlink, which typically sends 24 to 28 satellites into orbit per mission.