Experts say Beijing will not rush into making super-heavy boosters but will invest heavily in some viable projects
After tech mogul Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully captured its Super Heavy booster with a giant pair of mechanical “chopsticks” on October 13, Chinese state media launched a campaign to promote China’s achievements in building its own system. similar to Starlink.
In China, at least three companies are trying to catch up to SpaceX’s Starlink, which aims to send 42,000 satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) over the next few decades. So far, 6,426 Starlink satellites have been sent.
One of the trio is China Satellite Network Group Co, a state-owned company based in Hebei. It operates the GW plan, which refers to GuoWang or literally means “National Networks” in Chinese, and aims to build a Chinese version of Starlink with around 13,000 satellites.
Another is the Shanghai Weixiao Satellite Engineering Center, a subsidiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Its G60 or Qianfan plan aims to send 12,000 satellites to LEO by 2027.
The third is Shanghai Lanjian Hongqing Technology Co, in which Beijing-based LandSpace has a 48% stake. LandSpace is a private company founded by Zhang Changwu, a former official at the Ministry of Land and Resources. Lanjian Hongqing’s Honghu-3 plan will send 10,000 satellites into LEO.
“After seeing SpaceX’s successful launch on October 13, many foreign media outlets mocked China,” says Lei Xiangping, a commentator for state-run China Central TV (CCTV), in an opinion piece published on Thursday. “Fortunately, China reacted within the next three days.”
Lei says China demonstrated strength by sending 18 communications satellites to the Qianfan network via a Long March-6A rocket in Shanxi on Tuesday and launching the Gaofen-12 05 remote sensing satellite via a Longa carrier rocket. March-4C in Gansu on Wednesday.
He says Chinese companies will launch more than 15,000 satellites into LEO by 2030.
“Once Starlink completes its plan to send 42,000 satellites to LEO, there will be no more space and bandwidth in orbit for other countries to grab,” he says. “This is why China must accelerate its satellite launch plans to fight for resources in LEO.”
He also says it is urgent for Beijing to move forward with its Qianfan scheme, which will be used by the People’s Liberation Army to carry out high-resolution military surveillance missions around the world.
“In this emerging battlefield, whoever has the most advanced technology and controls the resources will enjoy a strategic advantage,” he says.
The Global Times said on Wednesday that China’s latest two successful satellite launches demonstrated the country’s growing expertise in space technology and increasingly strong space applications capabilities.
“This achievement reflects the commitment of China’s aerospace workers to upholding the spirit of ‘Two bombs, one satellite’,” the paper said.
China’s “Two Bombs, One Satellite” scheme refers to the detonations of the country’s first atomic bomb in 1964 and its first hydrogen bomb in 1967, as well as the launch of its first satellite in 1970.
Who made fun of China?
Gao Tianwei, technology columnist for Chinese newspaper Guancha.cn, commented on Monday about the successful landing of the SpaceX rocket.
“SpaceX made significant improvements to its latest flight launch. Should China follow suit and accelerate its development?” Gao says.
He says there is no need for China to rush to launch its Long March 9, a super-heavy carrier rocket similar to SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster, which has a diameter of nine meters with all engines in parallel. He says it’s because the country was once number 2 in the world in terms of aerospace technology.
He also says China prefers to invest in projects that have proven viable, for example medium-sized reusable launch vehicles like SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
In fact, there is nothing wrong with Gao’s comments as he merely reiterates Beijing’s official line that the Long March 9 will not be available for use until 2033.
But when the China Times, a Taiwanese newspaper, cited Gao’s comments on Monday, it used a negative headline and said China will have to wait a long time before achieving SpaceX’s advances.
Singaporean newspaper Lianhe Zaobao on Tuesday published a commentary with the headline “Did Musk’s spacecraft outperform China’s rockets?” He said some Chinese media are worried that China will not be able to catch up to the US in space technology.
All of these media reports prompted Chinese state media to react on Wednesday and Thursday.
Mo Jiangli, a writer from Shandong, says it is unfair that foreign media only praised Musk’s Starship but not LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 reusable test rocket, which successfully completed a 10-kilometer vertical takeoff on 11 September.
Separately, Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Technology, another private company like LandSpace, is developing a reusable launch vehicle called Nebula-1. On September 22, the vehicle crash-landed during its first test.
With information from Asia Times*
Source: https://www.ocafezinho.com/2024/12/14/china-promete-alcancar-a-starlink-de-elon-musk/
