China launches space router for first time

The Gaofen-11 satellite is launched on a Long March 4B rocket at 11 am Beijing Time from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi province, July 31, 2018. [Photo/China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp]

China's first space router has been successfully launched atop the Long March-4B carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi province.

The space router, designed and manufactured by the National University of Defense Technology, has already entered orbit.

The router is one of the core requirements needed to build a "space-ground integrated information network," in a bid to provide Internet services for different users, as nearly half of people across the globe are yet to have Internet access, hindered by deserts, mountains, oceans or other natural environments.

While working on the space router, the National University of Defense Technology also cooperated with the governments of Foshan city in South China's Guangdong province and Shunde district in Foshan. The two sides have jointly set up a research center that focuses on the research and application of space network technology, in line with China's plan to achieve greater military-civilian integration.