The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has announced that the country will launch its first satellite, for a "low-earth orbit" satellite constellation system, later this year. The system, known as "Hong Yan", will consist of more than 300 satellites alongside several data processing centers, and is expected to enable mobile communication across the globe. The first satellite will operate at an altitude of 11-hundred kilometers in low-earth orbit. Its main tasks will be to test the availability of frequency resources, and provide data forwarding services. The whole project is expected to be completed by the year 2023. And once completed, it's said the system will replace ground-based networks, and will allow for mobile phone services to connect from anywhere around the world.