China's Space Industry Takes Off
Beijing (XNA) Nov 06, 2008
China put another two satellites into orbit on Wednesday, just weeks after its third successful manned space mission and the first space walk by Chinese astronauts in September.
The space industry is taking off, thanks to the 30-year-old Reform and Opening-up Drive, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of the manned space program.
China established its space sector in the 1950s, an era of difficulty and hardship.
It wasn't until 1960 that China was able to launch its first domestic liquid-fuelled rocket from a primitive facility that resembled an ancient winch.
In the intervening years, the space sector developed slowly because of financial constraints and political turmoil, particularly the catastrophic Cultural Revolution (1966-76). During that period, there were five space launches.
In 1978, when China opened up to the outside world, Chinese scientists were surprised to learn how far they lagged other space-faring countries.
In 1986, the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee held a special conference to approve a national scheme for high-tech development, known as the "863 Plan". A special fund of 4 billion yuan (worth about 584 million U.S. dollars at present exchange rates) was allocated to accelerate the development of the space industry.
In 1992, a manned space program was launched, along with a "three-step" strategy. The first phase of the manned space program will cost some 20 billion yuan.
China's steady growth and expanding wealth provide a strong material foundation for the development of the country's space industry.
To date, China has achieved 112 launches of Long March rocket carriers, including 107 launches since 1978, according to Ma Xingrui, general manager of the China Aerospace Space and Technology Corp. (CASC).
Over the past 30 years, China has launched more than 110 satellites and sent seven spacecraft into outer space, developed 14 types of Long March rocket, made major breakthroughs in satellite technology and sent six astronauts into orbit on board three Shenzhou spacecraft.
China has also utilized many space technologies in its industrial, agricultural and tertiary sectors, and nearly 80 percent of new materials developed by Chinese scientists were first used in the space sector. So far, almost 2,000 space-related inventions have been used in other sectors.
Long March rockets have put 35 satellites from 13 countries or regions into orbit over 29 launches. Long March has become a renowned name in the international space market.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Three Chinese Astronauts Orbited in 2008
Two of the Astronauts Walked in Space
Plans for Space Station in 2010 and Landing a Man on the Moon in 2017
www.spacetoday.org/China/ChinaTaikonauts.html
The Peoples Republic of China, the world's most populous nation, sent three
men to space in one ship on September 25, 2008.
In space, two of the astronauts, known as taikonauts or yuhangyuans, exited the
Shenzhou 7 capsule briefly on September 27 for China's first-ever spacewalks.
China's human transport spacecraft are called Shenzhou, which means Divine
Vessel in Chinese.
Transport capsules identified as Shenzhou 8, Shenzhou 9 and Shenzhou 10 are
under development for launch in 2009-2010. The Asian nation hopes to launch the
three Shenzhou capsules to form a space station.
Shenzhou 8 and 9 would ferry equipment for a space station to be erected in
Earth orbit, according to Chinese newspaper reports in 2005. That would be
China's first space station. It would be composed of the Shenzhou 8 and 9
capsules joined together in orbit.
Shenzhou 10, then, would ferry people up to live and work in the space station.
Shenzhou 10 would dock at the space station. All three spacecraft – Shenzhou
8, 9 and 10 – would be launched within the same month.
Later, China would send astronauts to land on the Moon in 2017. That would be
three years ahead of NASA's planned landing of astronauts on the Moon in 2020.
Long Range Plan
The one-man flight in 2003 and the two-person flight in 2005 were early landmarks in the Asian nation's long-range plan. China then launched in 2007 an unmanned two-ton satellite called Chang'e to orbit the Moon for a year and record 3D images of the lunar surface. In 2008, two Chinese astronauts performed spacewalks during the Shenzhou 7 three-person flight.China's third piloted space flight
China sent three men to space in one Shenzhou capsule on September 25, 2008.
In space, two of the astronauts went outside the Shenzhou 7 capsule briefly on
September 27 for China's first-ever spacewalks.
The astronauts. The mission commander was Zhai
Zhigang. He made the first spacewalk. Astronaut Liu Boming floated outside
briefly. He gave Zhai a Chinese flag that he had waved at a camera. Jing Haipeng,
the third crew member, watched over the spacecraft from inside the re-entry
module.
The spacewalk was carried live on state television CCTV.
While outside, Zhai was tethered to handles attached to the orbital module's
exterior. He remained outside for 13 minutes, then climbed back inside and
closed the hatch.
Five years later. The Shenzhou 7 flight came five
years after China had launched its first piloted space mission, Shenzhou 5, back
in 2003.
At that time, China had become the third country after the United States and
Russia to launch a person into space. A Chinese official was reported to have
said Russian technicians assisted with the Shenzhou 7 spacewalk.
Chinese food. Chinese food available to the
astronauts in space included kung pao chicken, shrimp and dried fruit, according
to the official Xinhua News Agency said.
The Shenzhou 7 capsule, composed of three modules, flew in a circular orbit 213
miles above Earth.
A sub-satellite. Two hours after Zhai returned
inside the Shenzhou capsule, a small 88-lb. satellite was released to circle
independently around the orbiter and send back images to mission control on the
ground in China.
The small satellite was equipped with two cameras that could capture images at
distances of four meters to two kilometers (km) from Shenzhou 7.
The satellite observed and assisted the main capsule with communication,
scientific experimentation, and Earth and astronomy observation.
It provided Chinese ground controllers a chance to observe and control two
objects in relative motion in space in preparation for orbiter dockings in
future flights. China will need orbiter docking techniques for its next manned
spaceship Shenzhou-8, which will be a step toward the building of a permanent
space laboratory.
The Shenzhou 7 capsule itself was to return to land on the Inner Mongolian
steppe on September 28.
China's second piloted space flight
China sent its second manned spacecraft, called Shenzhou 6, to Earth orbit on
October 12, 2005.
The Shenzhou 6 capsule carried two men – Fei Junlong and Nie Haisheng – on a
five-day flight 210 miles above Earth.
Shenzhou 6 blasted off at 9 a.m. local time (0100 UTC).
Some 115.5 hours later, the pilots landed by parachute on October 17 in China's
northern grasslands at Siziwangqi, Inner Mongolia.
Second anniversary
It was almost exactly two years after China's first manned flight on October
15, 2003.
China already is the third nation able to send a man into space after that
October 2003 launch of Yang Liwei aboard Shenzhou 5. He orbited Earth 14 times
and landed by parachute in the northern grasslands at Siziwangqi.
Today, Yang is a celebrity helping train the former fighter pilots for Shenzhou
6. Fei and Nie now also are celebrities.
Live TV
The Chinese government was so confident of success before the Shenzhou 6
launch that it telecast the rocket lift-off live. Fei and Nie were seen inside
as their Shenzhou capsule raced upward toward orbit, which it reached 23 minutes
after launch.
Fei was heard to say he was "feeling pretty good."
The relative importance of the spaceflight to the nation was revealed when the
nation's leaders tuned in. Chinese President Hu Jintao was seen on TV watching
the launch from the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center. Later, on
October 15, he talked with the orbiting astronauts by radio from the Beijing
center.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao was at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the
Gobi Desert in the northwestern province of Gansu. Yang Liwei also was at the
launch site.
Record setting
Shenzhou 6 traveled around Earth at about 17,528 mph at an altitude of 210
miles. The craft flew two million miles in 115 hours 32 minutes in space.
Nie and Fei easily set a new Chinese space endurance record on October 13 when
they passed the 21.5 hours of time Yang Liwei had spent in orbit.
Science
While orbiting, Fei and Nie looked down at Earth's atmosphere and the
vegetation on land surfaces. They also looked at the oceans for pollution. The
information they collected about land, sea and air was of use to scientists on
the ground.
Landing
After five days in space, Fei and Nie returned to Earth in the re-entry
capsule portion of Shenzhou 6, leaving the orbital capsule behind in space.
Back safely on the ground, they ate noodles and chocolate, drank tea, and then
flew off to Beijing where they received heroes' welcomes.
Who could have flown? Fourteen male military pilots
were trained for the Shenzhou 6 mission. They were divided into seven pairs.
Their number was reduced when three pairs were selected from the pool in
December 2004. Chinese space officials picked the final pair shortly before the
flight.
Two men had been strong candidates along with Yang for the Shenzhou 5 flight –
Zhai Zhigang and Nie Haisheng. Before the flight, they were said to be among the
strongest candidates for the Shenzhou 6 flight. In the end, however, Fei Junlong
made the flight with Nie Haisheng.
China's first piloted space flight
The Peoples Republic of China launched a piloted spacecraft to Earth orbit on
October 15, 2003. Inside the Shenzhou 5 capsule was Yang Liwei, 38, a lieutenant
colonel in the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The spacecraft was atop a Long March 2F rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan
Satellite Launch Center in the northwestern province of Gansu at about 9 a.m.
local time. The flight made China the third nation able to send a man to space,
following a trail blazed by Russia and the United States.
Flags, food, phone calls
Comfortably piloting his capsule through space, Yang unfurled a small version
of China's five-star national flag as well as a small United Nations flag to
underscore his country's interest in peaceful exploitation of space.
About eleven hours into his flight, Yang spoke with his wife and eight-year-old
son by radio, saying he felt "very good" and that the view 200 miles
above Earth "looks extremely splendid around here."
Yang ate two space meals and took a three-hour nap. Typical Chinese dishes
packed in his capsule included spicy-and-sour shredded pork and sliced chicken,
and traditional desserts like Eight Treasure Rice. He drank Chinese herbal tea.
Future Chinese space pilots will have at hand some 20 Chinese dishes plus rice.
For instance, they might eat the shredded pork with garlic sauce and drink green
tea. The Shenzhou galley will offer canned fish and meat, dehydrated rice, curry
rice, seafood such as prawns, and stir-fried chicken.
Safe landing
Some 21 hours after launch, when the Shenzhou capsule had carried Yang around
Earth 14 times, the Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center sent a radio
command ordering the capsule's re-entry module to separate from the orbital
module and then ignite retro rockets to slow down.
That caused the module with Yang inside to re-enter the atmosphere where it
floated down under a parachute. It landed on the grasslands of the Inner
Mongolia Autonomous Region of north China at 6:23 a.m. October 16.
Shenzhou 5 touched down within three miles of the landing target. The flight had
lasted 21 hours 23 minutes.
Meanwhile, the Shenzhou orbital module remained in space for six months to carry
out automated research.
Yang had been equipped in advance for an off-target landing. Shenzhou
designer Qi Faren was quoted by a government newspaper before the flight as
saying, "The craft may land in the ocean or in the forests in a hostile
environment.
"For the safety of astronauts, they will take a lot of things with them
like a pistol, knife and other rescue equipment including a tent and liferaft so
they will be able to deal with wild beasts, sharks and other dangerous animals
or enemies."
First choice
Yang was selected from 14 People's Liberation Army (PLA) air force jet
fighter pilots who had been in training for the mission for years.
Traveling almost 400,000 miles during his flight, Yang was the 241st human to go
to space.
The 5 foot 6 inch Yang is the son of a teacher's family in Suizhong County in
Liaoning Province of northeast China. Zhang Yumei, Yang's wife, is employed at
China Space City outside Beijing.
National hero
After landing, Yang left the re-entry module in good condition. Looking only
slightly pale after his extraordinary experience, he waved to hundreds of
cheering, dancing people who had gathered to welcome him back.
"It is a splendid moment in the history of my motherland and also the
greatest day of my life," Yang said, according to Xinhua News Agency.
[Xinhua]
As people across China saw highlights of the flight and landing on television,
Yang immediately became a hero of the nation. A space official in Beijing told
Xinhua that Yang "is both a space hero and a national hero of China."
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao proclaimed China's first mannned spaceflight a "complete
success."
In the museum
Today, Yang's spacesuit, samples of the special food he ate, and the Shenzhou 5 landing parachute and landing capsule are displayed for the public in China's International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition Centre at Zhuhai.
Shenzhou Test Flights
Preparing to ferry Chinese yuhangyuans up to orbit, China launched a series of four unmanned Shenzhou capsules on new Long March 2F (CZ-2F) rockets from the Jiuquan spaceport from 1999-2002. The last three Shenzhou test flights stayed in space for about seven days. The test flights went so well the first manned flight was able to blast off in October 2003.Yuhangyuans
While men and women who fly in American spacecraft are known as astronauts,
and those who fly in Russian spacecraft are cosmonauts, those who fly in Chinese
spacecraft are known as yuhangyuans or sometimes taikonauts.
The word yuhangyuan is Chinese for space navigator. It is the name used
by official media when reporting on the nation's astronauts. The word taikonaut
is derived from taikong, the Chinese word for space. The term is believed to
have been used first by a Singapore website.
The Beijing Youth Daily newspaper reported in 2005 that China plans to recruit
more men and women for future flights since all 14 of the nation's male military-pilot
yuhangyuans are more than 30 years old.
After the Shenzhou 6 flight, Tang Xianming, director of the China Space
Engineering Office, said the nation wants to add female astronauts.
He also said they want to move beyond merely developing spaceflight vehicles to
spacewalks and rendezvous and docking with multiple spacecraft.
Training in Russia
China's activity for more than a decade had suggested the Asian nation was
developing a manned spaceflight capability, but the government had not confirmed
it. Two Chinese yuhangyuan trainers were sent to Russia's cosmonaut training
school just outside Moscow to learn how to pilot a space ship. They completed
training in 1997 and returned to China without becoming part of a crew to the
Russian space station Mir. The government controlled Yangcheng Evening News
reported the two who trained in Russia were training others for space flights.
SARS
The Communist Party newspaper, People's Daily, had announced in May
2003 that the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in China
would not be allowed to delay the nation's first piloted space flight.
The newspaper said space officials had taken preventive measures so SARS would
not affect the launch of Shenzhou 5. At the time, the nation's Health Ministry
was reporting that SARS had killed 230 and infected 5,000 persons across China.
The Shenzhou Transport Capsule
China's human transport spacecraft are called Shenzhou, which in
Chinese means either Divine Vessel, Sacred Vessel, Magic Vessel, Vessel of the
Gods, Divine Craft or Divine Mechanism.
Shenzhou also is a play on a literary name for China – Divine Land – with
the same pronunciation.
The spacecraft were named by former Chinese President Jiang Zemin.
The National Manned Space Program has been referred to by the Chinese as Project
921.
Including its orbital, re-entry and propulsion modules, Shenzhou 5 was about 30
feet long and weighed about 17,000 lbs. or 8.5 tons. The shape of Shenzhou 6 is
just like Shenzhou 5.
However, the state-run China News Service reported more than 100 technology
changes so the yuhangyuans aboard Shenzhou 6 can carry out more elaborate
science experiments.
In space, the yuhangyuans will take off their 22 lb. space suits. They will be
able to move around between the orbiter capsule and the re-entry capsule as they
conduct their science experiments.
The yuhangyuans will wash, rest in sleeping bags and heat their food.
Copy of a copy of a copy. The dome-shaped Shenzhou
design looks much like a Russian Soyuz capsule, which originally was designed in
the early 1960s. Even then, that early Soyuz design in 1962 was said to be
similar to the General Electric Company's proposal for America's Apollo capsule.
Russia uses the Soyuz capsule to carry cosmonauts and astronauts to and from the
International Space Station.
A complete Shenzhou spacecraft includes a forward orbital module, a re-entry
capsule, and an aft service module. The orbital module has a hatch where
yuhangyuans can exit for a spacewalk (EVA).
Shenzhou is a bit larger that a Soyuz, which can seat up to three persons. China
may intend, eventually, to fly four yuhangyuans in Shenzhou capsules.
Shenzhou capsules have flown at altitudes ranging from 122 to 207 miles (196-334
km).
The capsules are built by the state-run China Aerospace Science and Technology
Corp. They are precursors for an eventual Chinese space station. At the end of
future flights, the orbital modules could remain in space as additional elements
of a space station.
Crop seeds from Taiwan also were flown aboard Shenzhou 5.
Chief designer. Shenzhou's chief designer was Qi
Faren, who had been one of the designers of China's first satellite and who had
been appointed the general designer of Chinese spacecraft in 1992.
Cost billions. China said after Yang's flight that
it had spent US$2.17 billion (18 billion yuan) on the man-in-space program over
eleven years from its start in 1992.
Each of the first four test flights of unmanned Shenzhou capsules prior to
Shenzhou 5 cost less than US$120 million (one billion yuan), China reported.
Desert Launch Site
Shenzhou spacecraft are blasted off from the isolated Jiuquan Satellite
Launch Centre in northwest Gansu province in the Gobi Desert a thousand miles
west of the capital city of Beijing.
In ancient times, Jiuquan was an oasis on the Silk Road.
In modern times, Jiuquan became China's first launch site, built in the Gobi
desert north of Jiuquan City in the 1960s. Back then, it was limited to
southeastern launches into 57-70 degree orbits to avoid overflying Russia and
Mongolia. Western nations had called the site Shuang Cheng Tzu.
Many Long March space rockets and atmospheric sounding rockets have been fired
from Jiuquan. The base is used for recoverable Earth observation and
microgravity missions. However, due to the site's remote geographical location,
most Chinese commercial spaceflights take off from other spaceports. Manned
flights take off from Jiuquan.
Launches and landings from Jiuquan occur during northern hemisphere autumn and
winter months (southern hemisphere spring and summer) because the seas are
calmer then for the Yuanwang tracking ships stationed on oceans around the world.
Sea conditions are poor during the southern hemisphere autumn and winter months.
Mission control center. In preparation for piloted
flights, the Chinese built a new mission control center 30 miles northwest of
the capital city of Beijing as well as a large vehicle assembly building at the
Jiuquan spaceport in the Gobi Desert.
The mission control center is known as Beijing Aerospace Command and Control
Centre. Engineering labs for assembling and testing the manned capsules have
been built at sites around Beijing. After assembly, spacecraft and rockets
travel by train west to Jiuquan in the northwestern Gansu Province.
Xi'an Satellite Monitoring Center in the central Chinese province of Shaanxi is
in charge of a re-entry module's recovery. Landings are on the vast Inner
Mongolian plain where winter temperatures can reach below minus 22 degrees
Farenheit (-30 degrees Celsius).
Tracking Shenzhou
There are four ocean vessels in the spacecraft tracking fleet, named Yuanwang 1, 2, 3 and 4. Yuanwang means "Long View." The Chinese refer to the fleet as "maritime aerospace survey vessels" carrying "transoceanic aerospace observation and control technology."China in Space
Back in 1970, China became the fifth nation in the world to launch an artificial moon to orbit above Earth. That satellite, Mao-1, rode atop a Long March-1 rocket from Jiuquan.
China has successfully launched dozens of its Long March booster rockets.
The new Long March rocket used to launch Shenzhou capsules is comparable to the
United States' powerful Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV),
which are Delta-4 and Atlas-5 rockets.
Long March rockets have been used for years to ferry to Earth orbit satellites
built by the People's Republic of China and other countries. Chinese officials
had hoped to launch a manned craft in time for the October 1999 50th anniversary
of the founding of the People's Republic. That goal was not met. However, the
National Day parade on October 1 displayed models of rockets, including a
Chinese version of a U.S. space shuttle.
Only the United States and Russia launched manned space missions in the 20th
century. They launched capsules carrying one, two and three astronauts
throughout the 1960s and later. Their multi-person flight crews included
astronauts and cosmonauts from numerous countries.
In the beginning, the USSR sent Yuri Gagarin in Vostok 1 to orbit on April 12,
1961. Just 23 days later, Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard became the first
American in space. Shepard traveled less than one orbit nine months before John
Glenn carried the U.S. flag for three orbits on Feb. 20, 1962.
Project Apollo dropped the first Americans on the lunar surface back in 1969. A
dozen astronauts visited the lunar surface between 1969 and 1972. No other
nation has sent men to the Moon. NASA said in 2005 it plans to return astronauts
to the Moon by 2018.
In the 21st century, Shenzhou is part of a larger Chinese program to build and
occupy an independent space station and to land yuhangyuans on the Moon. China
is not part of the current 16-nation International Space Station consortium led
by NASA.
Project 921
The manned-flight launch pads, rockets, capsules and yuhangyuans have been
labeled Project 921.
So far, China has used Long March 2F rockets to launch the Shenzhou capsules.
That version of a Long March can loft 10 metric tons to orbit. In a few years,
China is expected to have a bigger rocket that will be able to lift 70 metric
tons of payload to Earth orbit. That would be sufficient capacity to put a space
station into orbit or take human beings to the Moon.
Docking in space
After the first manned flight, a later Shenzhou flight of two spacecraft
could demonstrate docking in space. That level of development would be compared
with U.S. one-person Mercury capsules flown from 1961-63 and two-person Gemini
capsules flown in 1965-66. The Soviet Union flew cosmonauts on similar flights
starting in 1961.
China purchased a Kurs docking system from Russia. That hardware would allow two
spacecraft to come together in space, suggesting an orbital docking by two ships
is planned. Such a docking could involve two Shenzhou capsules, or a capsule and
a space station.
China has suffered space-related disasters
For instance, an unmanned Long March 3B rocket veered off course seconds after liftoff in February 1996. It crashed in the nearby town of Xichang. Photographs showed large-scale devastation and officials announced that six people had died.
LINKS
The flights: Shenzhou 1-4 » Shenzhou 5 » Shenzhou 6 » Shenzhou 7 »
March 2, 2009 Businessweek.com
China's Chang-e space probe to made a planned crash landing onto the lunar surface yesterday.
The 16-month journey was the first leg of China's moon mission, which is expected to lead to a soft landing and the launch of a rover vehicle by 2012, Xinhua news said. In 2017, China will launch a second rover, which will gather geological samples and take them back to Earth.
China has separately announced it will launch a space module next year, and carry out its first space docking in 2011, in preparation for its goal of building a space station.
The Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace-1") module has been designed to operate unattended for large periods of time, but will also be used to conduct zero gravity experiments.
In 2003, Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei became the first person to be launched into space by China's space program.
China was the third nation, after the US and Russia, to launch an astronaut into space.
The earth's surface moves faster at the equator, which is why it's such a good place to launch a rocket. The extra spin gives a small boost to the massive machines as they power into space, and allows the rockets to carry heavier payloads. That's one reason China is expanding its Wenchang launch center on Hainan Island, a land of palm trees, white beaches and nuclear submarines snuggled in tight against China's southern coast just 19 degrees north of the equator. Beijing hopes the base, which will open in 2013, will help China join the big Western players in the commercial satellite-launch business.
Not that it needs much help. Since 2002 China has sent 15 commercial satellites into orbit, including last October's launch of a communications satellite for Venezuela. Beijing says it plans to launch an additional 15 commercial satellites this year. Last month, it reportedly signed a contract with European communications company Eutelsat to launch a five-ton satellite in 2010. The deal, which industry experts expect to be officially announced at a satellite convention in Washington, D.C. later this month, will be Beijing's first with a Western satellite operator since 1998, when the U.S. sharply restricted the technologies American companies could sell or even send to China.
That ban initially hurt China's commercial-launch business but in the long run it could end up helping Beijing. Designed to prevent China from getting hold of U.S.-made technology that could be used in military applications, the restrictions apply to exports such as weapons and certain commercial machinery. Because most commercial satellite builders have traditionally relied on U.S. parts, the legislation also effectively barred firms in Europe and elsewhere from using China to launch their products.
That's why the Eutelsat agreement is such a big deal. If confirmed, it would not only mark a business coup for China, but signal a major blow to Washington's technology ban. Several European aerospace groups including France's Thales, Italy's Finmeccanica and pan-European consortium EADS have been working on how to build satellites and components free of U.S. content. Over the past decade, meantime, China has perfected relatively cheap launches for companies and governments from Asia, Africa and South America.
Put those two facts together and China is well placed to grab more of the global launch market. "The restrictions have placed China outside the commercial- launch sector dominated by American, European and Russian companies — meaning China has to offer services at far lower prices if it wants to become a major player," says Jeff Foust, senior analyst at U.S. aerospace and telecommunications consulting firm Futron. "China has that ambition."
It's still early days. Some 25 Western-built commercial satellites are sold world-wide each year, but only six have been built since 2002 without the American components restricted by the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), as Washington's controls are known. "That's less than 5% of total sales over the past six years, and it does not constitute the threat to U.S. satellite companies that some are claiming," notes one industry source, who did not wish to be named.
Still, the trend seems set. "In 2002, for reasons of both national security and commercial competitiveness, European governments encouraged companies to develop technologies that do not rely as heavily on American suppliers bound to U.S. government oversight," the source says. The result: operators such as Eutelsat can now buy satellites without U.S. content and legally turn to China to launch them.
And why wouldn't they? The price of launching a satellite in the U.S., Europe or Russia runs between $80 million and $100 million. China, says Bertrand Laport, an equities analyst and technology specialist for Fortis in Paris, can put your satellite into orbit for around half that. "The other big advantage China has is that launch schedules of Western groups are typically booked for one to two years in advance, while China's schedule remains relatively flexible," says Laport. "That additional capacity, relatively good technology quality and a reliable launch record will make China an option companies will probably consider more as time goes by."
The growing competition is already hurting U.S. satellite makers. It's not just the launch business — the money spent on launches accounts for less than 3% of the $123 billion satellite industry overall — but the much more lucrative manufacturing contracts. U.S. manufacturers complain that since the export restrictions were introduced 11 years ago, the global market share controlled by U.S. companies has plunged from 80% to 41%.
Critics of the export restrictions argue that U.S. firms are suffering for nothing — because the ban has grown increasingly ineffectual. They want the government to revise ITAR and make it easier for U.S. companies to compete. "If non-American groups are constructing satellites for clients ready to turn to China for cheaper launches, China will be handling the same technology despite a U.S. ban," Laport says. "They'd be better off changing the rules to apply only to truly sensitive military and defense technologies."
Not everyone agrees. Responding to reports of the Eutelsat deal late last month, Republican Congressman Dana Rohrabacher, who sits on the Science and Technology Committee, vowed that "rogue nations" will continue to be "barred from receiving our high-tech systems." Chief among those countries, he said, "is the People's Republic of China." Rohrabacher also warned that the U.S. is prepared to slap down any non-U.S. satellite companies who sidestep ITAR and do business with Beijing, even if they don't break the ban. "Eutelsat sells tens of millions of dollars worth of satellite services to the U.S. Government through [Defense Information Systems Agency] contracts," Rohrabacher said. "Clearly, this is the beginning of a game of chicken between Eutelsat and the Obama Administration."
But it's a game Washington could just as easily lose as win. As Foust notes, plenty of U.S. companies and government agencies rely on foreign commercial-satellite operators like Eutelsat for their communications systems — including 85% of those the Pentagon maintains. "There's more to lose than to gain by trying to turn a low-profile policy issue in Congress into a huge fight," Foust says. "It's wiser to opt for policy reform that will allow everyone to work more efficiently, but still protect strategic interests."
And just in case politics gets in the way, Beijing is hedging its bets on Hainan Island by building a $1 billion space-science theme park and launch-viewing area for 300,000 people right outside the new space facilities. That way, China can make a few bucks off tourists even if satellite clients stay away.
www.time.com/time/world/article