Advantages of coastal operation outweighed by ‘strategic hinterland’ policy in preferred site for massive commercial space facility.China is considering another inland site as it makes plans for a massive commercial spaceport – despite the advantages of its coastal facility in the southern island province of Hainan.
According to the official Sichuan Daily newspaper, the new spaceport could be built in Mianning county in the southwestern province’s Liangshan Yi autonomous prefecture, in line with China’s strategy of strengthening its “strategic hinterland”.
The strategy was adopted by the third plenum – the party’s key policy meeting in July – as a backup for aerospace and other strategic industries, as well as building up food and other reserves “to meet national strategic needs in extreme situations”.
The proposed site is less than 100km (62 miles) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, which has been operating since 1984, sending more than 200 broadcast, communications and meteorological satellites into orbit.
Dong Weimin, a member of the Sichuan party Standing Committee, visited the selected location for the new spaceport, as well as the nearby site for a proposed aerospace hi-tech manufacturing industrial park in the city of Xichang, the Friday report said.
“[We will] push for the launch site park project to be approved … and lay out clearer plans for the construction areas including the launch site and regions for services, and cultural and tourism purposes.”
According to Dong, the intention is to “drive the growth of the commercial space industry with the… launch site … and attract companies like rocket and satellite manufacturers to move into the park to create a local cluster of manufacturers”.
A report in the Liangshan Daily on Thursday said the Sichuan Development International Commercial Spaceport Company was established last month to steer construction of the space launch platform.
How China’s space programme went from launching satellites to building its own space station
Dong told the Sichuan Daily that developing commercial space capacity would be key for China’s ambitions to become a space superpower.
“Commercial space flight is a new mode of aerospace business with fast technological iteration, high economic benefits and strong industrial synergy. It is becoming a new growth stream for economic development and an important engine for cultivating new productive forces.”
The decision to proceed with another inland launch centre is despite the downsides experienced with the existing Xichang site – such as the densely populated provinces which its rockets fly over.
There have been reports of rocket debris hitting village houses more than 1,000km (620 miles) away from the launch centre.
In 2016, the Wenchang Space Launch Site was put into service on the southern island province of Hainan. The facility, which is managed by the Xichang centre, has the advantage of proximity to the coast and the equator.
Rockets launched from Wenchang follow flight paths that are mostly over the ocean, while launches closer to the equator enjoy a stronger boost, since the Earth’s surface at the equator spins faster.
However, coastal locations are also more exposed, making them more vulnerable to potential attacks. In contrast, the Xichang site in the Sichuan Basin, with its surrounding mountains, offers less exposure.
China’s commercial space market has grown rapidly since 2015, with an estimated annual growth rate of more than 20 per cent from 2017 to 2024. It is expected to reach 2.34 trillion yuan (US$326 billion) this year, according to iiMedia Research.
An analysis by researchers at the Chinese Academy of Sciences of China’s commercial space industry policy found that “government and the industry are inextricably linked, resulting in the government’s ability to macro-regulate the development of the commercial space [industry] through the invisible hand”.
“Though a number of targeted policies have been issued, the results show that there is still a lack of operational and highly effective policies, especially in areas such as band permits, launch authorisations, and operation licences for commercial space products and services,” they wrote in an article published last year in the peer-reviewed journal Humanities and Social Sciences Communications.
In late June, China said its first commercial spacecraft launch site, off the coast of Wenchang city, was ready for operation.
Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co Ltd said at the time it planned to expand the launch site with extra launch pads to provide domestic and international rocket and satellite launch services.
