西门无恨

China accelerates LEO satellite deployment with two launches in 12 days, but gap remains in launchpad efficiency, rocket reusability: expert_我的网站

A |     December is here, and it’s a massive month for Korean entertainment fans around the world. As the year ends, streaming platforms and other networks are dropping some of their biggest titles, from dark psychological thrillers and emotional slice-of-life dramas to political epics, animated mysteries, legal redemption arcs, and even a superhero comedy with a twist. It’s a rare month where every genre shows up strongly, giving viewers options for every mood, whether it’s comfort, chaos, tears, or tension.     This December lineup brings together some of Korea’s strongest actors like Jeon Do-yeon, Kim Go-eun, Park Seo-joon, Hyun Bin, Jung Woo-sung, Kim Da-mi, and Lee Jun-ho, along with gripping storytelling and global platforms. If your year-end plans include blankets, hot chocolate, and long streaming nights, here’s the ultimate guide to what to watch this month.     The Price of Confession                                             This intense mystery-thriller begins with a shocking death and spirals into a dark psychological war where truth becomes the most expensive currency. Ahn Yoon-soo, an ordinary art teacher who expected a peaceful life focused on home, family, and creativity, finds her world shattered when her husband is murdered, and she becomes the prime suspect. Overnight, she goes from the quietest person in the room to the centre of nationwide scandal, surrounded by flashing cameras, whispering crowds, and a justice system that already seems to have decided she’s guilty. Inside prison, she meets Mo-eun, a mysterious inmate feared by others and known as the witch for her unsettling ability to read people so accurately it feels supernatural. Mo-eun approaches Yoon-soo with an impossible offer: she will confess to the murder in Yoon-soo’s place, but only if Yoon-soo commits another murder for her. What follows is a nail-biting psychological negotiation between survival, morality, and desperation.     Meanwhile, prosecutor Baek Dong-hun is determined to uncover the truth, even as the case forces him to question everything he believes about justice. Yoon-soo’s lawyer, Jang Jung-gu, a former boxer who fights with both heart and fists, refuses to give up on proving her innocence. Every character is caught in a web where telling the truth comes at a price no one can fully afford. With Jeon Do-yeon and Kim Go-eun delivering powerful performances, The Price of Confession looks like one of December’s biggest and most emotionally demanding thrillers, perfect for viewers who love stories where nothing is as it seems.     Release date: 5 December Where to watch: Netflix     Surely Tomorrow                                                  If you enjoy emotional dramas that explore real life, regrets, lost relationships, and second chances, Surely Tomorrow is one to look forward to. The series follows Lee Gyeong-do, a reporter who has been living an ordinary, predictable life, until he unexpectedly meets his former girlfriend, Seo Ji-woo, after many years apart.     Their reunion isn’t romantic or easy. Seo Ji-woo recently went through heartbreak and a public scandal when her late husband’s extramarital affair became sensational news, a story that Gyeong-do himself once wrote. Their meeting forces both of them to confront unresolved feelings, old wounds, guilt, and the question of whether timing matters more than love itself. The drama takes its time exploring how two people who once mattered deeply to each other face the complicated aftermath of choices and consequences. It looks at loneliness, emotional exhaustion, and how unpredictable life can be. It is about forgiveness, of others and of ourselves.      With Park Seo-joon leading the series, viewers can expect gentle tension, warm chemistry, and realistic storytelling rather than dramatic exaggeration. Sometimes life doesn’t give us dramatic twists, it gives us quiet decisions that change everything. Surely Tomorrow captures exactly that.     Release date: 6 December Where to watch: JTBC & Prime Video           Pro Bono                                                  Pro Bono brings a fresh angle to legal dramas by focusing not on glamorous high-profile trials but on the gritty real world of public defence and small cases that determine real lives. Kang David is a former celebrity judge who once enjoyed fame, power, wealth and massive social media attention. He believed he had everything, until a major downfall forces him to restart his career from scratch.     Instead of prestige and big courtrooms, he now works as a public interest lawyer defending ordinary people who cannot afford legal representation. Far removed from luxury and applause, David comes face-to-face with human struggle, injustice, broken systems, and people fighting battles no one else sees. Each case challenges his ego and reveals the loneliness behind his former success. The drama explores themes like redemption, humility, privilege, and the difference between winning legally and doing what is morally right. As David learns to rebuild his life without fame, he discovers what law is truly meant to do, protect people who cannot protect themselves.     Release date: 6 December 2025     Where to watch: tvN     Your Letter                                             This touching animated adaptation of the beloved 2018 webtoon combines mystery, school life, friendship and healing. The story follows So-ri, a student who transfers to a new school hoping for a fresh start. But instead of an easy beginning, she discovers a mysterious letter hidden on campus, a message that seems meant specifically for her. The note leads her on a trail of more hidden letters, each revealing pieces of a personal and emotional secret connected to bullying, loss, and someone who desperately needs help. As So-ri follows the clues, she becomes part of a journey much bigger than herself.     With warm art style and emotional storytelling, Your Letter explores how small kindnesses can change someone’s entire world. It is a reminder that everyone carries unseen battles, and sometimes, the right words at the right time can save a life. A perfect watch for anyone who loves films that leave you thinking long after the credits roll.     Release date: 12 December Where to watch: Theatres (Korean audio with English subtitles)     Love Me                                             On the surface, the protagonist of Love Me has everything anyone could want, beauty, success, wealth, and social admiration. But behind the perfect image is someone who struggles deeply with loneliness, pressure, and the feeling that her life is passing without real happiness.     Adapted from the Swedish drama Älska Mig, this series explores relationships between family members, partners and friends, and how love evolves as we grow up. The tone is emotional but comforting, filled with everyday realism rather than dramatic chaos. It highlights the beauty of ordinary moments: dinner table conversations, quiet mornings, and trying again even when life hurts. A thoughtful, heart-warming drama for viewers who enjoy reflective storytelling.     Release date: 19 December Where to watch: JTBC     The Great Flood                                                  Set in a world devastated by catastrophic floods, The Great Flood follows a group of survivors trapped inside a nearly submerged apartment building as they fight to stay alive and protect what remains of humanity. The film combines intense disaster sequences with deep emotional storytelling that looks at fear, sacrifice and hope.     As water levels rise and time runs out, the characters confront not only nature but the darkness inside people when survival is at stake. With Kim Da-mi and Park Hae-soo leading the cast, the movie blends suspense, heartbreak and stunning visuals. Perfect for fans of high-tension survival films like Train to Busan or Concrete Utopia. It is not just about escaping disaster, it’s about why we keep fighting when everything seems lost.     Release date: 19 December Where to watch: Netflix     Made in Korea                                                  A grand political period drama set in the 1970s, Made in Korea tells the story of a nation undergoing massive transformation. Through major historical events and power struggles, the series explores how Korea evolved during one of its most defining decades. Led by Hyun Bin and Jung Woo-sung, the show brings together a powerful ensemble in a story about ambition, betrayal, loyalty and national identity.     The drama looks at the human cost behind political decisions and the resilience of people who shape history. With its large scale, emotional depth and cinematic visuals, this is one of the most anticipated shows of the month, and with Season 2 already confirmed, expectations are high.     Release date: 24 December Where to watch: Hulu & Jiohotstar     Cashero                                                  If you’re looking for something fun and unpredictable to end the year with, Cashero is a lively superhero comedy with a hilarious twist, Kang Sang-woong gains superpowers that increase or weaken based on how much cash he carries in his wallet. Broke? Powers gone. Rich? Unbelievable strength.     He teams up with other quirky heroes: a lawyer whose abilities unlock only when drunk, a psychic powered by calories, and more. Together, they fight a mysterious enemy targeting powered individuals. The series mixes action, humour and a surprising amount of heart, showing that being a hero has nothing to do with perfect costumes or dramatic speeches, sometimes it’s about trying your best when the world expects nothing from you.     Release date: 26 December 2025Where to watch: Netflix     A perfect holiday watch for laughs and warmth. Thrillers, romances, courtroom battles, emotional slice-of-life stories, survival disasters and animated mystery. December is a month full of powerful Korean stories and big-name releases.      Also Read: 8 Time Travel Revenge K-Dramas: Marry My Husband, God’s Gift: 14 Days and More。    

    The 24th group of the low-orbit internet satellites aboard a Long March-12 carrier rocket is launched at 12:10 pm on August 16, 2026 from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan. Photo: VCG
Two successful launches among China's recent frequent moves caught particular attention of space watchers - the 24th group of low-Earth orbit internet (LEO) satellites aboard a Long March-12 rocket was sent from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan on Sunday, 12 days after the 23rd group of LEO satellites aboard a Long March-8A rocket was launched from the same Hainan site on August 4.
Sunday's mission marked the 663rd launch of the Long March series of carrier rockets, which on Monday sent an SEO satellite into preset orbit, per Xinhua.
Experts said the launches of two groups of LEO satellites within 12 days underlined that China is notably accelerating its pace of building its satellite internet constellation.
"The launch of LEO satellites has now entered a regular and cyclical rhythm, with batches of satellites continuously being sent into orbit at relatively stable intervals," Kang Guohua, a senior member of the Chinese Society of Astronautics and a professor of Aerospace Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told the Global Times on Monday.
China launched the first group of LEO internet satellites on December 16, 2024, proceeding to the 24th batch in about 20 months. Kang said three major production and launch "assembly lines" are supporting the effort: satellite factories featuring centralized design in Beijing, coordinated supply chains and mass production; rockets with streamlined launch and testing procedures and multiple configurations; and launch sites capable of supporting routine constellation deployment.
The Long March-12, which played a key role in the latest LEO satellite launch, is China's first 4-meter-class single-core-stage carrier rocket and was specifically developed for commercial launch needs. It is about 62.6 meters long, has a liftoff mass of 430 tons and can carry more than 12 tons to low-Earth orbit. Its first stage is equipped with four 1,250-kilonewton pump-fed liquid oxygen-kerosene engines and uses a newly developed coal-based aerospace kerosene, according to Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.
The rocket adopts a "three-horizontal" launch preparation model: horizontal assembly, horizontal testing and horizontal transportation. Depending on mission requirements, it can use fairings with diameters of 4.2 or 5.2 meters and support both single-satellite and multi-satellite launches into different orbits.
"This flexibility makes the Long March-12 particularly suitable for the 'one rocket, multiple satellites' model required for constellation deployment, making it one of the main launch vehicles currently used for LEO constellation missions," Kang said.
The mission also highlighted the launch site's growing ability to support high-frequency launches. The rocket took only two and a half days from being transported to the launch area to liftoff, setting a record for the shortest time a rocket occupied the launch position at the site, Kang said.
Despite the rapid progress, experts cautioned that the 228 satellites currently in orbit remain some distance from the ultimate goal. China's satellite internet project has a long-term goal of deploying nearly 8,000 satellites and is now in an accelerated "weaving" phase.
China's advantage lies in its ability to control costs and boost production efficiency once satellite manufacturing reaches mass-production scale, another expert surnamed Liu told the Global Times.
"Whether it is the production capacity of AI centers or the factory in Hainan, which has an annual satellite manufacturing capacity of 1,000 units, satellite production itself is not the problem," Liu said. "More bottlenecks lie in the operational efficiency of launch pads and the rocket payload and recovery technology."
The real challenge lies in rocket reusability. Only by lowering launch costs and increasing launch frequency can China sustain a pace of more than one launch per week. This is also the strategic significance of accelerating the development of reusable rocket technology, including the Long March-10B and privately developed rockets, Kang further noted.
Chinese Academy of Engineering academician Deng Zhongliang previously said in an interview that satellite internet will serve as an indispensable space-time infrastructure for 6G, enabling emerging industries worth trillions of yuan, including the low-altitude economy, advanced autonomous driving and the Internet of Things (IoT).
    The 23rd group of low-orbit internet satellites aboard a Long March-8A carrier rocket is launched on August 4, 2026 from a commercial spacecraft launch site in the southern island province of Hainan. Photo: VCG
。

Current article:http://www.chenzhuaigecoupuhongyuntuizei.sbs/fl9ba3/20260826/4199.htm

Published on:00:26:43