(Yicai) Feb. 14 -- SpaceSail, China’s answer to Starlink, failed to attract sufficient bidders for its tender to launch 162 satellites this year due to high thresholds. A second round of public bidding is now underway.

SpaceSail, led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, aims to complete nine rocket launches this year, with each rocket carrying 18 satellites into their designated orbits. Gradually, the Shanghai-based company will build up a constellation of over 10,000 low-Earth orbit communication satellites to rival that of US space firm SpaceX’s Starlink.

The tender requires that the bidders' rockets have the ability to carry payloads of at least 4.5 tons into an 800-kilometer-high orbit and that the rockets have successfully flown before.

Fewer than three companies signed up for the bidding due to the high thresholds, and so the first round was aborted, according to an announcement posted on the China Tendering and Bidding Public Service Platform on Feb. 10. The next day, a second tender was issued, maintaining the same specifications for bidders.

"Based on the bidding conditions, most companies do not meet the requirements to participate in the tender," said Qu Fang, investment consultant at Wanlian Securities. Although China's private rocket firms have made great strides in recent years, their rockets still lag behind state-developed ones in terms of range, payload capacity and stability, he added.

The Long March 6A and Long March 12 rockets, developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology under the government’s China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., are potential candidates for the project, industry insiders said. The Long March 6A completed a mission in January, launching 18 SpaceSail satellites into space in a single flight.

If subsequent rounds of bidding also fail to attract sufficient participants, SSST may consider switching to single-source procurement to secure providers, an auditor told Yicai.

SSST had 72 satellites in orbit as of Jan. 31, forming four networks, and plans to launch 648 more satellites by the end of this year, Chief Executive Officer Bu Zhiyong said earlier.

Editor: Kim Taylor