Chinese space program

The space program of the People's Republic of China was initiated at the behest of the Central Military Commission for fulfilling national needs. The potential military utility of space was the central reason for China embarking on its national space program since 1956. The program was aimed at developing China’s aviation, guided missiles, rockets and missile defense needs. Thus, the first products of its space programme were not Satellite Launch Vehicles (chsatellites, rather they were Ballistic Missiles like the Dongfeng-1 (DF-1), -2, -3, -4 and -5. Of these, the DF-4 and DF-5 became SLVs like the Changzheng-1 (CZ-1) and CZ-2 respectively. Thus, PRC's first satellite, Dongfanghong I (The East Is Red I), was launched only one and a half decades later in 1970, making China the fifth space-faring nation. The manned space program began in 1968, and China became the third country to put a human in space in 2003.

History and recent developments

The PRC's space program dates to 1956, when Tsien Hsue-Shen recently deported from the United States after being accused of being a communist during the red scare, proposed and became first director of a ballistic missile program.

The March 1, 1956, Twelve-Year-Plan for Chinese aerospace, also known as Project 581, was the first Chinese satellite project, with the objective of placing a satellite in orbit by 1959.

During the cordial Sino-Soviet relations of the 1950s, the USSR engaged in a cooperative technology transfer program with the PRC under which they trained Chinese students and provided the fledgling program with a sample rocket, but this support was abruptly withdrawn after the 1960 Sino-Soviet split.

The PRC continued the program independently and launched their first rocket, based on the Russian R-2, in late 1960. Development continued through the 1960s and 1970s, with the first launch of the indigenous Dongfeng missile in 1964. The same technology, adapted into the Long March rocket, was used to launch the PRC's first satellite Dong Fang Hong I (The East Is Red I), in 1970, allowing the PRC to join the USSR, United States, France, and Japan as the fifth spacefaring nation. The PRC went on to launch 55 satellites in the Dong Fang Hong series over the following three decades.

Further development of the Long March rocket series allowed the PRC to initiate a commercial launch program in 1985, which has since launched over 30 foreign satellites, primarily for European and Asian interests. The United States government has long been resistant to the use of PRC launch services by American industry due to concerns over technology transfer, and in 2000 announced an official embargo. The PRC has continued to improve their rocket designs, though the next generation Long March 5 appears stalled from lack of funding.

The PRC is a member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and a signatory to all United Nations treaties and conventions on space.

Organization

Initially the space program of the PRC was organized under the People's Liberation Army, particularly the Second Artillery Corps. In the 1990s, however, the PRC reorganized the space program as part of a general reorganization of the defense industry to make it resemble Western defense procurement.

File:CNSA Logo.PNG

The CNSA currently handles launches.

The China National Space Administration, an agency within the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense currently headed by Sun Laiyan, is now responsible for launches. The Long March rocket which is produced by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, and satellites are produced by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The latter organizations are state-owned enterprises; however, it is the intent of the PRC government that they not actively be state managed and that they behave much as private corporations would in the West.

The space program also has close links with Tsinghua University and Harbin Institute of Technology.

Satellite Launch Centers

The PRC operates 4 Satellite Launch Centers:

• Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC)
• Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC)
• Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC)
• Wenchang Satellite Launch Center (WSLC)

Monitoring and Control Centers

• Beijing Aerospace Command and Control Center (BACCC)
• Xian Satellite Monitor and Control Center (XSCC)
• Fleet of four Yuanwang-class space tracking ships plus two more under construction.
• Deep Space Tracking Network composed with radio antennas in Beijing, Shanghai, Kumming, Urumuqi and forming a 3000 km VLBI.

Manned spaceflight programs

PRC's manned spaceflight programs started as top secret as early as 1968, when it was founded by Tsien Hsue-Shen of the Space Flight Medical Research Centre. Project 714 aimed to put two people into space by 1973 with the Shuguang spacecraft. Nineteen PLAAF pilots were selected for this goal on March 1971. The Shuguang-1 spacecraft to be launched with the CZ-2A rocket was designed to carry a crew of two. The program was officially cancelled on May 13, 1972 for economic reasons, though the internal politics of the Cultural Revolution likely motivated the closure.

The short-lived second manned program was based on the successful implementation of landing technology (third in the World after USSR and USA) by FSW satellites. It was announced in 1978 with the open publishing of some details including photos, but then was abruptly canceled in 1980. It has been argued that the second manned program was created solely for propaganda purposes, and was never intended to produce results.

In 1992, authorization and funding was given for Project 921, which was a plan to launch a manned spacecraft. The Shenzhou program had four unmanned test flights. The first one was Shenzhou 1 on November 20, 1999. On January 9, 2001 Shenzhou 2 launched carrying test animals. Shenzhou 3 and Shenzhou 4 were launched in 2002, carrying test dummies. Following these was the successful Shenzhou 5, China's first manned mission in space on October 15, 2003, which carried Yang Liwei in orbit for 21 hours and made China the third nation to launch a human into orbit. Shenzhou 6 followed two years later. At least two more Shenzhou missions, with multiple crew members, space walks, and dockings, remain in planning. Missions are launched on the Long March 2F rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

The PRC initially designed the Shenzhou ships with docking equipment suitable for the International Space Station (ISS) and built its launching platforms in the appropriate latitude for a rendezvous. Following the success of Shenzhou 5, the PRC formally requested to join the ISS, but the United States strongly opposed the plan. The PRC in turn announced its intention to build its own space station. The unofficial website Taikonauts Go suggests that Shenzhou-8 (an unmanned space lab) Shenzhou-9 (unmanned) and a manned Shenzhou-10 will be docked in late 2010 to form a primitive space station, much like the Soviet Union's early Salyut program. The PRC has now turned its diplomatic attention to establishing further joint programs with the European Space Agency and Russia.

Shenzhou 5 re-entry module

In February 2004, the PRC formally started the implementation phase of its unmanned Moon exploration project. According to Sun Laiyan, administrator of the China National Space Administration, the project will involve three phases: orbiting the Moon; landing; and returning samples. The first phase will spend 1.4 billion renminbi (approx. US$170 million) to orbit a satellite around the Moon before 2007. Phase two involves a lander before 2010. Phase three involves collecting lunar soil samples before 2020.

On November 27, 2005, the deputy commander of the manned spaceflight program announced that the PRC planned to complete a space station and a manned mission to the Moon by 2020, assuming funding was approved by the government. Towards that end they intended to perfect space walking and docking by 2012. However, funding for the necessary Chang Zheng 5 series of rockets remains in abeyance.

On December 14, 2005, it was reported "an effort to launch lunar orbiting satellites will be supplanted in 2007 by a program aimed at accomplishing an unmanned lunar landing. A program to return unmanned space vehicles from the moon will begin in 2012 and last for five years, until the manned program gets underway" in 2017, with a manned Moon landing some time after that. [1] In February 2006, China announced that the Shenzhou 7 mission would be delayed from 2007 to 2008 to allow additional development time for the spacesuit for the planned first Chinese spacewalk.

On June 22, 2006, Long Lehao, deputy chief architect of the lunar probe project, laid out a schedule for China's lunar exploration. He set 2024 as the date of China's first moonwalk [2].

Yang Liwei declared at the 16th Human in Space Symposium of International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) in Beijing, on May 22, 2007 that building a lunar base was a crucial step to realize a flight to Mars and farther planets.

Sun Laiyan, administrator of the China National Space Administration, said on July 20, 2006, that China would start deep space exploration focusing on Mars over the next five years, during the 11th Five-Year (2006-2010) Program period.

The first unmanned Mars exploration program should take place between the 2014-2033 period, followed by a manned phase in 2040-2060.

Moreover, in order to make manned flight in deep space toward Mars safer, a space weather forecast system will be completed by 2012 with the Kuafu mission satellites placed at the Lagrangian Point L1.

Chief designer of the Shenzhou spacecraft Qi Faren has stated in 2006 that "the Chinese manned space program was not aimed at sending tourists into space, but instead at preparing for the exploration of Mars and return safely".

Astronauts

November 1996 trainer selection

There were two astronaut trainers selected for Project 921. They trained at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center in Russia.

• Li Qinglong - born August 1962 in Dingyuan, Anhui Province and PLAAF interceptor pilot and space instructor at Star City
• Wu Jie

January 1998 first Chinese astronaut (yuhangyuan) detachment

• Chen Quan
• Deng Qingming - from Jiangxi Province and PLAAF pilot;
• Fèi Jùnlóng - second Chinese astronaut, commander of Shenzhou 6, possibly in training for Shenzhou 7
• Jing Haipeng - born October 1966 and PLAAF pilot
• Liu Boming - born September 1966 and PLAAF pilot
• Liu Wang - born in Shanxi Province and PLAFF pilot
• Niè Hǎishèng - flight engineer on Shenzhou 6, back up in Shenzhou 5, possibly in training for Shenzhou 7
• Pan Zhanchun- PLAAF pilot
• Yang Liwei - first man sent into space by the space program of China, and his mission, Shenzhou 5, made the PRC the third country to independently send people into space, possibly in training for Shenzhou 7
• Zhai Zhigang - back up in Shenzhou 5
• Zhang Xiaoguan - born in Liaoning Province and PLAAF pilot
• Zhao Chuandong - PLAAF pilot

As for 2006, at least two other selections of younger taikonauts are being trained.

Goals

PRC's space program has several goals. The China National Space Administration policy white paper lists short term goals as:

• build a long term earth observation system
• set up an independent satellite telecommunications network
• establish an independent satellite navigation and positioning system
• provide commercial launch services
• set up a remote sensing system
• study space science such as microgravity, space materials, life sciences, and astronomy
• plan for exploration of the moon

Among their stated longer term goals are:

• improve their standing in the world of space science
• establish a manned space station.
• manned missions to the moon
• establish a manned lunar base.

List of Projects

Chinese rocket part in transfer

Satellites and science

• Dong Fang Hong series of satellites
• Beidou navigation system or Compass Navigation Satellite System, composed of 60 to 70 satellites, during the "11th Five-Year Plan" period (2006-2010)
• Astrophysics research, with the launch of the world's largest Solar Space Telescope in 2008, and a Space Hard X-Ray Modulation Telescope by 2010.
• Kuafu mission satellites for space weather forecast, will be completed by 2012
• Deep Space Tracking Network with the completion of the FAST, the world largest single dish radio antenna of 500 m in Guizhou, and a 3000 km VLBI radio antenna

Satellite Launch Center

• Hainan Spaceport Fourth and southernmost space center, will be upgraded to suit the new CZ-5 Heavy ELV and manned lunar missions

Launch vehicles

• Kaituozhe-1, KT-2, KT-2A New all-solid orbital launch vehicles
• CZ-1D Based on a CZ-1, but with a new N2O4/UDMH second stage
• CZ-2E(A) Intended for launch of Chinese space station modules
• CZ-3B(A) More powerful Long March rockets using larger-size liquid propellant strap-on motors
• CZ-3C Launch vehicle combining CZ-3B core with two boosters from CZ-2E
• Chang Zheng 5 Second generation ELV with more efficient and non toxic propellents (25 tonnes in LEO)
• Chang Zheng 6 Second generation Heavy ELV for lunar and deep space trajectory injection (70 tonnes in LEO), capable of supporting a Soviet L1/L3-like lunar landing mission
• SLV Small Launch Vehicle, with short launch preparation period, low cost and high reliability, to meet the launch need of small satellites up to 500 kg to 700 km SSO

Space exploration

File:Exploration of the Moon, People's Republic of China.jpg

Insignia of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP).

• Project 921-1 — Shenzhou spacecraft
• Project 921-2 — Chinese Space Lab and Chinese Permanent Space Station short term and then permanent occupation
• Project 921-3 Space Shuttle — Second generation manned spacecraft (This project appears to have been cancelled)
• Shenzhou Cargo — unmanned version of the Shenzhou spacecraft to resupply the Chinese Permanent Space Station
• Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
  • Chang'e program — unmanned lunar probe (first phase lunar program)
  • Second phase lunar program — first settlements and lunar resources exploitation
  • Third phase lunar program — permanent lunar bases and full scale exploitation
• Chinese Mars exploration program — Firefly-1 orbiter scheduled for launch in October 2009 in the joint Phobos-Grunt mission with Russia. Further planned missions include rover landers and possible manned missions in the far future. Anatoly Perminov, head of the Russian Space Agency has revealed in September 2006 in RIA Novosti that China was about to sign a contract by the end of 2006 to participate in a Russian project to bring soil back to Earth from Phobos, one of Mars two moons. The mission will also collect samples on Mars, according to Xinhua.

• Deep space exploration — spacefaring through the entire Solar system

See also

• Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics
• Firefly (TV series), depicts a multi-cultural future of primarily a fusion of Occidental and Chinese cultures as a result of China and the United States being the two superpowers that expanded into space

External links

• CNN.com timeline of China space program
• Go Taikonauts! - An Unofficial Chinese Space Website
• Mark Wade 's Encyclopedia Astronautica
• China's Space Ambitions, analysis by Joan Johnson-Freese, IFRI Proliferation Papers n° 18, 2007
• US Senate testimony on Chinese space program, given by James Oberg.
• Excerpts from Senate Q&A period on Chinese space program
• Dragon Space - China's civilian, military and manned space programs
• Chinese Threat to American Leadership in Space - Analysis by Gabriele Garibaldi
• Taikonaut facts
• Scientific American Magazine (October 2003 Issue) China's Great Leap Upward
• [3]
• [4]
• White paper on china space activities the coming 5 years (released 2006)

News

• Scientist Targets 2024 for China's First Moon Walk Associated Press (via SPACE.com) 20 June 2006 11:59 am ET