The Tongchuan-1 satellite, developed by Chinese satellite company Spacety, Tsinghua University and the government of Tongchuan, Shaanxi. Credit: Spacety press release
All eyes have been on China’s successful launch of Mars mission Tianwen-1. The spacecraft and the rocket that launched it, like most of the technology for China’s national space missions, was made by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the state-owned enterprise that holds the main contracts for China’s space program.
But, in recent years, new opportunities have emerged in China’s private space sector. This week we look at the recent rise of commercial space companies in China.
The Rise of China’s Commercial Space Sector
Data: STPI
In 2014, a change in government policy, part of a financial document known as Document 60, spurred the growth of China’s commercial space sector, especially in launch and remote sensing. The change incentivized private investors to fund commercial space ventures, and the number of Chinese space startups has taken off since.
A report by the Institute for Defense Analyses’s Science and Technology
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