Space centre all set to take off

Commercial area to generate RM19bil and build 20 rockets annually

BEIJING: Construction began on China’s first commercial space industry centre in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province.

The Wuhan National Space Industry Base aims to attract at least 100 enterprises involved in the space industry before 2020 and generate 30bil yuan (RM19bil) in annual gross product by then, according to China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (Casic), the main investor.

The centre will occupy 68.8 sq km in Xinzhou district.

Expace Technology, a subsidiary of Casic that provides commercial launch services, will invest 1.7bil yuan (RM1bil) to build production and assembly plants for solid-fuel carrier rockets for commercial launches.

The company plans to make about 20 rockets at the centre each year, it said in a statement.

In China, a commercial launch usually means a space launch financed by an entity other than a Chinese government or military agency.

The Casic Second Academy will invest 300mil yuan (RM190.1mil) to construct a research, development and manufacturing complex at the centre to make small satellites.

Casic has said it will launch 156 small communications satellites into low Earth orbit, at an altitude of 160km to 2,000km, before the end of 2025.

They would form a network capable of global coverage.

Expace Technology said yesterday it signed a contract with an unnamed domestic client to conduct four commercial launch missions in a week early in 2018.

The 2018 missions will employ Kuaizhou 1A, a solid-fuel carrier rocket developed by the Casic Fourth Academy in Wuhan.