Follow Us New Delhi: China is working on a mega project to beat Elon Musk’s SpaceX satellite service. According to SpaceX, about 7,000 of its Starlink satellites are operating in Earth’s orbit. Through them, it is providing internet service to about 5 million customers in more than 100 countries. The purpose of this service is to provide high-speed internet access to customers even in remote and underserved areas of the world. SpaceX hopes to increase its mega constellation to 42,000 satellites soon. China is aiming to increase the number of satellites to the same level and hopes to soon put about 38,000 new satellites in orbit under its three low earth orbit internet projects. These three projects are known as Qianfan, Guo Wang, and Honghu-3. Why is China investing in mega-projects? Steve Feldstein, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said, “Starlink has shown that it can bring the internet to people living in the most remote areas of the world. Thanks to this, people living there can run whatever websites or apps they want. “China is actually trying to censor internet access to its citizens. That’s why China is seeing Starlink as a threat. China thinks Starlink can deliver uncensored content to our citizens or people in countries affiliated with us. This could put a dent in its strict censorship. That is why China is making all these efforts on its behalf to break it.” Blaine Cursio, founder of Orbital Gateway Consulting, agrees, saying, “China thinks that this will change the whole situation. That’s why they are trying to censor Starlink’s internet through their satellite network. Experts say that while Chinese satellites may not be the preferred internet provider for the US, Western Europe, Canada and US allies, this satellite project can open the way for China to provide services in many areas. Localities not covered by Starlink “There are many areas in the world that could be attractive to Starlink’s competitors, especially the inhospitable areas of China that China itself has to cover,” said Juliana Suess, an associate at Germany’s Institute for International and Security Affairs. Suess said, “70% of the 4G infrastructure in the continent of Africa is already built by Huawei. In such a situation, through its satellite project, China can make even deeper inroads there. “When it comes to the impact of Starlink technology on the battlefield in Ukraine, we’ve seen that drones can become a tool for warfare and connected warfare. Having a satellite-based weaponry for a country is today seen as an important military advantage. I think China is doing all this because of these things. It feels that investing in it is very important for its national security goals,” said Feldstein. Also Read: Amid rumours about romantic relationship with Elon Musk, Italian PM Georgia Meloni says…, earlier Musk had…