China, like the rest of the world, appears to have been caught napping by the rapidity of Space X’s Starlink constellation deployment. But the country has at last embarked on its LEO program with several strings to its bow, notably Geespace’s Geesatcom, billed as China’s private counterpart to Starlink, and the Qianfan LEO constellation from Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), which launched in August. Geespace launched its first satellite in 2022 and has just announced completion of half its first phase deployment, which is planned to finish at the end of 2025 with 72 satellites. It already covers 90% of the globe within each 24-hour period, and claimed this “marks the first time a Chinese commercial aerospace company has offered…