South China’s Guangdong province has announced its ambition to join the country’s race to expand its commercial space sector, promising financial and policy support for companies wanting to build low-orbit satellite constellation systems and promote their application in futuristic industries including space mining and space tourism.
Guangdong plans to use government procurement to support key innovative products and application scenarios for satellite constellation systems, which also include telecommunications and logistics, according to a commercial space policy statement released by provincial authorities on Tuesday.
“Companies will be supported in continuously scaling up the satellite application industry and in purchasing computing power services, while relevant local governments are encouraged to provide rewards in accordance with regulations,” it said.
As part of a three-year development plan, the province will also push companies to expand overseas in the fields of satellite navigation and remote sensing.
Guangdong has pledged to provide a fast track for approving satellite constellation projects, promising specially designated government funding to help with rocket and satellite development, as it tries to play catch-up with peers such as Beijing and Shanghai.
Beijing pioneered the construction of the state-backed Guowang national network, and Shanghai is leading the efforts to build Qianfan, which means “a thousand sails”, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences. But Guangdong, which boasts the country’s biggest provincial-level economy, has yet to produce a local champion in satellite constellation systems or the space economy in general.
China had been ramping up its efforts to build satellite constellation systems that could rival Elon Musk’s Starlink. Guangdong’s ambitious plan is the latest sign those efforts are accelerating, something also evidenced by an increase in rocket launches since late July.
There was a one- to two-month gap between launch missions for the first five sets of satellites used to build Guowang, but that was reduced to just three to five days for the launch of the three most recent sets, according to a note issued earlier this month by analysts at China Securities.
“The pace of network deployment has accelerated significantly, which may indicate that China’s satellite internet has entered a rapid buildout phase,” they said.
While the construction of Shanghai’s Qianfan system has slowed recently, with no launches since March, a new seven-launch programme was announced last month, and analysts expect launches to accelerate in the second half of the year.
To cope with the increasing number of launches, the commercial launch site in Wenchang, Hainan province, began building two more launch pads in January that will double its capacity.
Several high-capacity commercial liquid-fuel rockets are also set for their maiden launches in the second half of the year. They are expected to “gradually become an important force in building China’s low-orbit satellite networks”, according to China Securities.
As launches become more frequent, China has also encountered setbacks in its endeavours. A test launch by Beijing-based LandSpace, a pioneer in reusable rocket development, failed on August 15. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
