Changguang Satellite’s Enormous Funding Round for Jilin-1

Andrew Jones, for SpaceNews, on Changguang Satellite’s enormous $375 million funding round:

The funding will mainly go towards the development of the 138-satellite Jilin-1 constellation of “high performance optical remote sensing satellites.” The initial phase will consist of 60 satellites to offer a 30-minute revisit for any point on the globe, CGST states. The firm aims to complete the full, 138-satellite, 10-minute revisit constellation around 2030.

As Andrew points out in the article, this single round surpasses the totality of Planet’s funding.

I’m still not quite sure what to make of Chinese private space companies these days, but news like this makes the recent revisions to US commercial remote sensing regulations make so much sense:

The revised regulations, finalized after months of interagency review, would subject systems to only the “bare minimum of conditions” if they offer capabilities no better than what is available by foreign competitors, with somewhat more stringent conditions if they offer better capabilities or novel services not otherwise available.