China and Private Industry Space Exploration

[selvaarchi]

"New Chinese commercial rocket firms move toward maiden launches"

https://spacenews.com/new-chinese-co...iden-launches/

A number of firms in the Chinese NewSpace sector are taking steps towards debut suborbital and orbital launches, while also attracting new funding.

Beijing Xinghe Dongli Space Technology Co. Ltd., also known as Galactic Energy, last week carried out a successful 74-second hot fire test of the second stage for its first launch vehicle. The Sept. 26 test also included a separation test of the first and second stage.

Galactic Energy previously stated that they aim to carry out the maiden launch of the solid propellant ‘Ceres-1’ in March 2020.

[selvaarchi]

"Report Evaluates China’s Commercial Space Sector"

https://www.leonarddavid.com/report-...-space-sector/

An appraisal of China’s commercial space sector provides a review of the current landscape of China’s nascent but growing commercial space sector.

The report — Evaluation of China’s Commercial Space Sector – has been issued by the Institute for Defense Analyses (IDA) Science and Technology Policy Institute in Washington, D.C.

Key questions

The assessment uses original documents and first-hand Chinese-language interviews with Chinese companies and China’s industry experts.

The report addresses three questions:

What factors are driving the development of China’s emerging commercial space sector?
What are the key characteristics of this sector?
What are its strengths and weaknesses, and where do we expect Chinese commercial space companies to be in the next 5–10 years?

[selvaarchi]

"China creates commercial space alliance, expands launch complex"

https://spacenews.com/china-creates-...aunch-complex/

A group of space industry entities have formed a China commercial space alliance to help promote and regulate the country’s burgeoning private space sector.

The China Commercial Space Alliance was launched at a Dec. 11 ceremony in Beijing. The alliance was created by six groups including units under the state-owned defense and space contractors the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). The China Space Foundation and the Chinese Academy of Sciences are also involved.

The new collaborative body is a response to the rapid growth of private aerospace companies following a 2014 government decision to open areas of the space sector to private capital.

[selvaarchi]

The coronavirus outbreak is slowing both the government and private plans for this year.

https://spacenews.com/chinas-space-i...irus-outbreak/

China’s space industry is suffering adverse effects from the coronavirus outbreak which has so far infected mare than 30,000 in mainland China.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country’s state-owned main space contractor, has resumed a degree of launch vehicle production activities following the Chinese New Year holiday. However the implementation of measures to fight the spread of the coronavirus have impacted production and research.

The new strain of coronavirus has had a profound impact on China since its outbreak in December. Chinese outlet Caixin reported midday local time Feb. 7 that 31,211 cases had been confirmed in China, with 637 deaths. 266 cases have so far been confirmed outside its borders.

[selvaarchi]

"China New Space in 2020 catching up"

https://westeastspace.com/2020/04/03...0-catching-up/

An Energetic Market: Updates on the Chinese Private Launcher Industry

The latter half of the 2010s saw a plethora of mostly privately-funded, commercially-oriented launch companies emerge from China. The speed of development and number of companies can be exemplified by the fact that they fall rather neatly into two “generations”, namely the first generation of 4-5 companies mostly founded in 2014-2015, and the second generation of up to 10 companies founded mostly since 2018. One of the most advanced companies of the “second generation” is Galactic Energy, founded in only 2018, and profiled here on WestEastSpace in 2019. We recently spoke with Galactic Energy to get an update on the company’s progress, as well as Chinese launch technology in general. Having conducted some additional desk research on Chinese launch vehicles, we at WestEastSpace have combined the main takeaways from our discussion with Galactic Energy with an analysis on the broader market for an update on the broader Chinese private launcher industry.

[selvaarchi]

"How Soon Until Private Chinese Launch Providers are Global Competitors?"

http://interactive.satellitetoday.co...l-competitors/

Since its beginnings, the Chinese space industry has been largely dominated by major state-owned enterprises (SOEs), namely China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and to a lesser extent, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). However, since 2014, the industry has opened to a greater degree of private investment, and in 2018, about 30 companies obtained 3.6 billion yuan ($509 million) in funding, including 1.4 billion yuan ($198 million) invested in commercial launch companies. In 2019, total investment dropped to 1.1 billion yuan ($156 million), of which about half was invested in commercial launch companies. Most recent fund-raising examples include Landspace with 500 million yuan ($71 million) and Galactic Energy with a pre-Series A funding round of 150 million yuan ($21 million). According to data in Euroconsult’s upcoming “China Space Industry Report 2020,” the launch service provider market has attracted more private funding than any other verticals during the past few years, with total funding raised exceeding $710 million.

[selvaarchi]

"Chinese space resource utilization firm Origin Space signs deal for space telescope"

https://spacenews.com/chinese-space-...ace-telescope/

Chinese startup Origin Space has signed a contract with a satellite maker for development of an optical space telescope as a step toward future space resource utilization.

Shenzhen-based space resource utilization firm Origin Space penned the deal April 10 with DFH Satellite Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of China Spacesat Co. Ltd., which is ultimately owned by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), the state-owned main contractor for China’s space programs.

No details of the space telescope, named ‘Yang Wang-1’ (roughly ‘Look up-1’), nor the deal itself have been divulged. SpaceNews understands that launch is tentatively scheduled for 2021. DFHSat provide satellite platforms ranging from 10 to 1,000 kilograms in mass which have been used for a range of applications.

[selvaarchi]

Galaxy Space is testing 5G services from space.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...msg2073344#new

As many satellite startups plan to launch small satellites into Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to provide global broadband internet services, a Chinese satellite provider now suggests 5G speeds.

After China's first LEO 5G broadband satellite successfully moved into its orbit earlier this year, the satellite maker, Galaxy Space, tested a three-minute video call by connecting to the internet provided by the satellite terminal in space recently.

The clear picture and swift response in the video call on Friday proves that the LEO 5G broadband satellite developed by the Chinese commercial startup is reliable, while the race between the world's economic superpowers to roll out 5G networks goes on.

The satellite, developed by Beijing-based private aerospace company Galaxy Space, connected the callers on earth by connecting to the WiFi hotspots provided by the satellite terminal in space, the company told the Global Times.

The terminal is China's first LEO 5G broadband satellite and was successfully delivered to its pre-selected orbit in January from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Northwest China's Gansu Province. It is able to cover an area of 300,000 square kilometers, roughly 50 times the size of Shanghai, according to Galaxy Space.

[selvaarchi]

"Final checks for rocket complex at Wuhan base"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...241151c68.html

A manufacturing complex for China's Kuaizhou-series carrier rockets in Wuhan, Hubei province, will be put into operation soon, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, the major investor in the facility, said last week.

All the infrastructure for the Kuaizhou Rocket Complex at the Wuhan National Space Industry Base has been built and is undergoing qualification checks, the State-owned defense conglomerate said in a statement issued on Friday.

The 30-hectare complex includes factories, testing facilities, office buildings and a power station.

It will have an initial production capacity of 20 Kuaizhou-series solid-propellant rockets a year, CASIC said.

[selvaarchi]

It not only in the USA that commercial space is taking off. Here is a report of what is happening in China.

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/P...tment_999.html

In its latest research titled "China Space Industry Report," Euroconsult provides in depth analysis of how commercialization is driving both growth and technology advances in the Chinese space sector, with oversubscribed IPOs and a wave of private investment.

China Satcom is now the world's highest valued pure satellite operator with a market cap of US$11 billion as of May 2020, while China Satcom parent company China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) reported record revenues of $37 billion in 2018.

With a deep-dive into the structure of the Chinese space industry, the report details the relationships between myriad space organizations and China's complex delineation between commercial and government entities.

[selvaarchi]

"Chinese private launch firms advance with methane engines, launch preparations and new funding"

https://spacenews.com/chinese-privat...d-new-funding/

A number of Chinese private launch firms for the burgeoning commercial space sector have reported progress in efforts to develop a range of launch vehicles.

Landspace and iSpace are reporting progress with methane rocket engines, while Galactic Energy is moving closer to launch of its Ceres-1 launcher. Deep Blue Aerospace has meanwhile secured early funding for development of a liquid launch vehicle series.

Landspace completed three gimbaling hot fire tests of the SkyLark (Tianque-12) 80t-thrust-level cryogenic methane and liquid oxygen rocket engine early-mid May. Tianque-11, a smaller, 10-ton liquid oxygen methane engine, passed 2,000 seconds of testing June 5.

The engines will together power the 48.8-meter-tall, two-stage Zhuque-2 launch vehicle. The launcher will be capable of delivering a 4,000-kilogram payload capacity to a 200-kilometer low Earth orbit (LEO). Alternatively ZQ-2 can loft 2,000 kilograms to 500-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).

[selvaarchi]

"Satellite Executive Briefing" latest cover story highlights what has happened so far in 2020.

http://www.satellitemarkets.com/pdf/pdf2020/jun20.pdf

But indeed, we now find ourselves in the midst of a rapidly changing world, and one that is, as of May 2020, still largely shutdown. One of the places, that is "most back to normal," however, is China, and its space industry is no different.

[selvaarchi]

"New Money: China's private space start-ups lift off"

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-07-1...Yzu/index.html

Going into space has long been a dream of human beings and it has now become a reality on the horizon even for ordinary people. China now has more than 100 private space companies that are creating reusable rockets, sending payloads into their pre-set orbits and quickly catching up with global leaders such as American-owned SpaceX.

The rocket known as Hyperbola-1 reached a milestone in China's private space industry last July. It became the first privately owned Chinese rocket to achieve orbit, also the third in the world. It carried two satellites and three payloads into a 300-kilometer-altitude orbit.

According to Huo Jia, Vice President of Beijing Insterstellar Glory Space Technology, also known as i-Space, it took the company only two years to reach orbit, much faster compared to SpaceX. "SpaceX was founded in 2002, and achieved orbit in 2008. It developed reusable rockets in 2015 and now manned missions. In comparison, we have been in operation since 2017, and reached orbit in 2019, " said Huo.

[selvaarchi]

"Business as Usual in the Middle Kingdom"

https://spacewatch.global/2020/08/blaine-cursio-column/

As we near the 2/3 point for the year 2020, it is starting to feel like a “lost year” for some. With many people working from home for the majority of the year, with borders largely closed, and with governments in turmoil, many are starting to ask whether 2020 can just be over already. Reasonable sentiment, to be sure.

That being the case, China has been a little bit different. While the country was subject to a brutal lockdown during February and March, things have begun to return to relative normalcy. From my vantage point in Hong Kong, I can feel safe knowing that the number of Covid cases in the city are numbering less than 20 per day, and have found everyday life to be relatively unobstructed, all things considered. From my contacts in the Mainland, I understand things there are even more “normal”.

This normalcy has also been reflected in the Chinese space industry, which over the course of this year has continued to grow rapidly, with new companies being established, existing ones announcing new funding rounds, and with technological advancements being made on a regular basis. This has been met by increased government initiatives related to space, something that has occurred at both a national and local government level. This has contributed to an increased splintering of the Chinese space industry away from Beijing. Longer-term, the increased involvement of local and provincial governments in concert with commercial companies will likely lead to innovation, albeit in a comparatively inefficient way due to overlapping responsibilities and duplication of work.

[selvaarchi]

"Construction begins for first private satellite factory"

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2020-09-02/d...u2686534.shtml

Construction of China's first privately owned satellite plant began on Tuesday in Tangshan, a coastal city in Hebei province, and is expected to start operation next year, according to its owner.

The plant is in Tangshan's Lunan district and will become operational around the beginning of 2021. Its initial production capacity will be about 100 satellites with weights ranging from 50 to 500 kilograms, Commsat, a private satellite producer in Beijing, said in a statement on Tuesday.

Commsat President Peng Yuanyuan said in the statement that the Tangshan plant will adopt pulse－line manufacturing and intelligence technologies to make satellites in a fast, cost－effective manner.

The plant will not only manufacture satellites but also conduct research on space－based communication technologies and ground applications, she said.

[selvaarchi]

"Startups eye rocket and satellite markets"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20201...d0ba7dc0d.html

As China moves progressively toward its goal of becoming a major power in the global space arena that can rival the United States, space startups and local governments are also racing to tap into the boom in rockets and satellites.

Over the past two months, about 2.4 billion yuan ($357 million) of investment was raised by two major private rocket companies in Beijing. In September alone, two massive manufacturing complexes－one for satellites and another for rockets－started construction in Hebei province's Tangshan and Shandong province's Haiyang.

Now, the southern coastal province of Guangdong, one of China's economic powerhouses, is determined to catch up and has chosen to start by building carrier rockets.

Last week, Guangzhou, the provincial capital, began construction in cooperation with CAS Space, a Beijing-based startup virtually controlled by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, on the country's southernmost production facility for carrier rockets.

[selvaarchi]

"Chinese rocket companies secure local government support for research, production facilities"

https://spacenews.com/chinese-rocket...on-facilities/

Two young Chinese rocket have secured deals with local governments for the establishment of major launch vehicle research and production facilities.

The agreements made in September demonstrate ongoing and deepening support of commercial space endeavors by Chinese provincial and local governments.

Beijing-based Galactic Energy will construct a base in Jianyang, a county-level city under the administration of Chengdu, a city of 16 million in southwest China. Chengdu is the provincial capital of Sichuan province and already hosts major traditional space sector activity.

The facility in Jianyang will be for research, development and production of

[selvaarchi]

"Remote sensing satellite firm completes huge funding round as Chinese space sector activity accelerates"

https://spacenews.com/remote-sensing...y-accelerates/

Chinese remote sensing company Changguang Satellite has secured $375 million for its constellation of optical Earth observation satellites.

Changguang Satellite Co. Ltd., a commercial offshoot of the state-owned Changchun Institute of Optics, Fine Mechanics and Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, announced (Chinese) the 2.46 billion yuan “pre-IPO” round Nov. 28.

The sum surpasses that of declared funding rounds by any other Chinese commercial space companies, including large rounds secured by launch service providers Expace, Landspace ($175 million) and iSpace ($173 million), as well as Qianxun Spatial Intelligence Inc.

The amount raised by the Changchun-based firm also notably eclipses the total funding so far raised by U.S. remote sensing startup Planet.

[selvaarchi]

"Spacety shares first images from small C-band SAR satellite"

Spacety shares first images from small C-band SAR satellite

Chinese startup Spacety released the first images from Hisea-1, a C-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite, launched Dec. 22 on China’s new Long March 8 medium-lift rocket.

Three days after launch, Spacety began receiving data from Hisea-1’s SAR payload built by the China Electronics Technology Group. On Dec. 27, Spacety acquired its first batch of SAR imagery including a three-meter-resolution image of Tennessee published in a Dec. 30 news release.

“This is the world’s first miniatured C-band SAR satellite, and also the first commercial SAR in China,” James Zheng, Spacety Luxembourg CEO, told SpaceNews by email.

In recent years, several companies have raised money to build and launch constellations of small SAR satellites. Two have succeeded so far.

Finland’s Iceye operates five X-band SAR satellites. San Francisco-based Capella Space began releasing imagery in October from its first operational satellite, Sequoia, which also operates in X-band.

Spacety plans to build, launch and operate a constellation of 56 small SAR satellites.

[Roger E. Moore]

China’s surging private space industry is out to challenge the US. An explosion of space startups in China is supercharging tech innovation, opening new markets around the world, and expanding the country's influence. The rivalry between the US and China, whose space program has surged over the last two decades, is what most people mean when they refer to the 21st-century's space race.

https://www.technologyreview.com/202...try-dominance/

[selvaarchi]

"Geely officially launches a 4.12b yuan internet satellite project in Qingdao"

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1214083.shtml

China's automaker Geely has officially launched its internet satellite project in Qingdao, East China's Shandong Province, with an investment of 4.12 billion yuan ($637 million), according to media reports. That would make the Chinese automaker in par with Tesla in the adventure into aerospace.

The project is located in the Qingdao Shanghe demonstration zone, with an area of 20,474.3 square meters, according to relevant reports.

[Roger E. Moore]

China’s iSpace suffers failure with second orbital launch attempt. Launch of a Hyperbola-1 rocket by Chinese private firm iSpace ended in apparent failure shortly after liftoff from Jiuquan launch center Monday. The Hyperbola-1 four-stage solid rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at around 3:00 a.m. Eastern.

https://spacenews.com/chinas-ispace-...aunch-attempt/

[selvaarchi]

"Chinese private rocket firm LandSpace accomplishes payload fairing separation"

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202101/1214388.shtml

Chinese private rocket firm LandSpace confirmed with the Global Times Friday that it has accomplished a payload fairing separation test for its self-developed ZQ-2 liquid-propellant carrier rocket, a step toward the maiden liftoff for the much-expected rocket.

The test verifies the working performance, sequence and the whole process of the entire separation action of the fairing. The parameters of the separation process meet the design requirements, which proves the level of the separation design and interface coordination, the company said.

[selvaarchi]

"What i-Space’s Failed Launch Mean For China’s Private Aerospace Startups"

https://www.chinamoneynetwork.com/20...eT1WmewMFIWmas

At around 16:00 on February 1, 2021, Beijing time, the Chinese private space launch company i-Space’s Hyperbola-1 (Shian Quxian-1) rocket failed in its second launch in an attempt to orbit the small Fangzhou-2 (Ark-2) satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

i-Space stated that the company will immediately investigate and review the cause of the failure to reset the launch mission.

This launch mission is the first failure of the world’s aerospace industry in 2021, and the third failure of Chinese private aerospace companies in recent years.

[selvaarchi]

"Chinese private satellite firm obtains government financing"

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202102/1214907.shtml

Private satellite firm Beijing Commsat Technology Development Co announced on Wednesday that it has received financing from the China Internet Investment Fund (CIIF). Experts said the move shows the government is paying more attention to the private sat-ellite internet sector.

This is the first time that the CIIF has been involved with a private space business, and it is also the seventh round of financing completed by Commsat, the Global Times learned.

This round of financing will be mainly used for research and industrialization of satellites, as well as recruitment of top talent in the industry, Commsat told the Global Times on Wednesday.

[selvaarchi]

"China completes final assembly of new liquid-propellant rocket's first-stage engine"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/202..._139721458.htm

China has completed the final assembly of a new liquid-propellant rocket's first-stage engine, developed by a private Chinese space company.

According to its developer Landspace, the ZQ-2 rocket is a liquid oxygen-methane carrier rocket with the largest capacity under research in China.

The engine has entered reliability tests and mass production, with its key technologies having achieved breakthroughs.

[selvaarchi]

"Private Chinese company launches smart suborbital rocket"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/202..._139724497.htm

A new smart suborbital rocket developed by a private Chinese company was successfully launched from a site in northwest China on Friday, according to the company.

The "Chongqing Liangjiang Star" OS-X6B, with a length of 9.4 meters, was launched at 5:05 p.m. It completed a flight time of about 580 seconds, reaching a maximum altitude of about 300 km, said OneSpace Technology Group Co.

The launch marks the first time that a private Chinese rocket company has realized controlled re-entry flight, human-in-the-loop space flight control, and (upper stage) redundant fault-tolerant control, according to OneSpace.

[selvaarchi]

"Landspace closes in on orbital launch with liquid methane rocket"

https://spacenews.com/landspace-clos...ethane-rocket/

Chinese private firm Landspace is working towards a potential first orbital launch attempt with a methane-fueled launch vehicle later this year.

Landspace completed assembly of the four Tianque-12 liquid methane-liquid oxygen engines which power the first stage of the Zhuque-2 rocket in early February.

This was preceded by a payload fairing separation test and a series of 400-second hotfire tests of the 80-metric-ton thrust engines in late January.

The 49.5-meter-tall, two-stage Zhuque-2 could be the first methane-fueled rocket to launch for orbit. Blue Origin’s New Glenn and ULA’s Vulcan—both powered by the former’s BE-4 staged-combustion methalox engines—are also aiming for debut launches in 2021.

[Roger E. Moore]

Chinese commercial launch company iSpace said Monday that an errant piece of foam insulation caused the loss of its Hyperbola-1 launch vehicle in February.

https://spacenews.com/falling-foam-i...ocket-failure/

[selvaarchi]

"Chinese private firm to build space lab by 2025"

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202103/1218330.shtml

As China has scheduled 11 launch missions in the next two years for the building of its first space station, a private space technology start-up based in Huzhou, East China's Zhejiang Province has been keeping its pace close to the national program, with an ambitious goal of initiating an orbital space biology lab around 2025, firm founder Cheng Wei told the Global Times on Sunday.

It aims to conduct studies relating to changes in humans' vital signs in space to explore the development of future manned space missions, while also planning to load a self-generating life support system onboard its lab to study the feasibility of long-term human stays on moon or other extraterrestrial bodies.