China has expanded its Guowang national broadband megaconstellation on Wednesday, reaching its 600th Long March rocket launch. This milestone signifies a major increase in the nation’s spaceflight launch tempo. A Long March 8A rocket was launched at 9:33 p.m. Eastern, Oct. 15 (0133 UTC, Oct. 16) from launch pad 1 at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced the success of the launch, revealing that the payload contained the 12th group of satellite internet satellites. The satellites were provided by CASC’s China Academy of Space Technology (CAST).

While the precise number of satellites on board wasn't specified, the three previous Long March 8A launches each carried nine Guowang satellites. The national Guowang project, overseen by the state-owned China SatNet, aims to deploy nearly 13,000 satellites in low Earth orbit as a response to Starlink. The short-term goal for Guowang is to have 400 satellites in orbit by 2027.

If nine satellites were launched on this mission, the operational Guowang project will have 95 satellites in orbit. There are additional test satellites in orbit linked to the project from a number of separate launches. The Long March 8A variant includes side boosters and upgraded hydrogen-liquid oxygen YF-75H engines on its second stage. It also has a larger 5.2-meter-diameter fairing.

The rocket seems to be mainly produced to support Guowang, with increasing production of its YF-100 kerosene-lox engines. All four Long March 8A launches have carried Guowang satellites.

The new milestone highlights the rapid increase in Chinese launch cadence. The first launch, using the Long March 1, was on April 24, 1970, successfully sending the Dongfanghong-1 satellite into orbit.  It took until June 2007—37 years—for China to complete the launch of its first 100 Long March rockets, when a Long March 3A launched Xinnuo-3. The 200th launch followed seven and a half years later, in December 2014. The 300th launch was conducted three and a half years later, in March 2019, and the 400th was reached Dec. 10, 2021. The 500th launch took place just two years later, Dec. 10, 2023. China has now hit the 600th launch milestone 22 months later.

This increase in launch rate has also occurred as a commercial launch sector grows. Most of these launches have used the hypergolic Long March 2, 3 and 4 rockets, while new, hydrogen-liquid oxygen and kerosene-LOX Long March 5, 6, 7 and 8 rockets began coming online in the mid-2010s. The new Long March 10 is being developed to take Chinese astronauts to the moon, while the super heavy-lift Long March 9 is also in development. The first reusable Long March rocket could be the Long March 12A, which could launch before the end of the year.

Wednesday’s mission was China’s 62nd orbital launch of 2025, closing in on a new national launch record for a calendar year. That record is currently 68, set in 2024. Expected upcoming launch activity includes a Long March 6A rocket due to launch from Taiyuan, north China, early Friday (Oct. 17), followed by a possible Lijian-1 (Kinetica-1) solid rocket from Jiuquan, northwest China, late Oct. 18 Eastern. A Long March 5 rocket is scheduled to launch from Wenchang Oct. 22, while a Long March 3B rocket could launch from Xichang, southwest China, around Oct. 26. While airspace closure notices indicate the expected launches, no payloads have been publicly disclosed ahead of the missions.