According to a September 21 report on the Indian Express website, China's space industry is booming, launching four rockets in 45 hours and staging a satellite "lightning war."
The report said that from September 15 to 16 Eastern Time, China launched four different rockets into orbit from multiple launch sites within 45 hours. This round of intensive launches shows that China's space industry is developing rapidly under the joint impetus of state-owned space agencies and private commercial space enterprises. According to a report on the US Space website, all four missions were successful.
The report said the series of launches began at 2:26 a.m. Eastern Time on September 15, when Blue Arrow Aerospace launched the Zhuque-2 improved rocket at the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area in northwest China. This liquid oxygen methane carrier rocket sent 10 satellites into the scheduled orbit to carry out the Qianfan constellation networking mission. If the Qianfan plan proceeds smoothly, about 15,000 satellites will eventually be launched.
Later that day, at 6 p.m. Eastern Time, Orienspace launched a Gravity-1 rocket in the East China Sea, sending nine satellites into the scheduled orbit. The third launch occurred at 8:32 p.m. Eastern Time on September 16, when the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation launched a Long March 12 carrier rocket from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site, carrying GW constellation satellites. The GW constellation plans to launch 13,000 satellites.
About two hours later, at 10:40 p.m. Eastern Time, a Kuaizhou-11 rocket lifted off from Jiuquan carrying two satellites for Tianyi Space Company. The Kuaizhou-11 is operated by a local state-owned enterprise. Although these four launches demonstrated China's ability to carry out multiple orbital missions in a short period, none of the four missions attempted first-stage recovery. Nevertheless, China is still making continuous progress in rocket recovery technology.
Over the past two and a half months, Blue Arrow Aerospace's Zhuque-3 and Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's Long March 10B rocket achieved first-stage recovery. The report believes that China's four consecutive rocket launches show that China's rocket launch field is becoming increasingly diversified. These four missions involved a commercial liquid oxygen methane rocket, a sea-based solid rocket, a state-owned Long March series rocket and a Kuaizhou series rocket carrying radar satellites. These launch activities also show that China's space launch system is being used to deploy large satellite constellations.
In addition, according to a September 21 report on the Wall Street Journal website, as SpaceX prepares to send its Starship rocket into Earth orbit for the first time, many countries, including China, are also seeking to develop their own technologies to challenge SpaceX. The report said experts noted that SpaceX's rise in the rocket launch industry has also pushed China to accelerate its own development. As China continues to catch up, Chinese companies may soon begin competing with SpaceX.
"China is already closely following the United States in the rocket launch field and is the world's second-largest launch service provider," said Patrick Bensha, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University who studies the space economy. The report said that in July, China successfully carried out its first reusable carrier rocket recovery mission, a milestone in its reusable rocket research and development. For many years, it was precisely this technology that helped SpaceX lower costs and increase launch frequency.
Analysts at Bernstein said this milestone was achieved six months earlier than expected. They called China a "strong competitor." Last week, China carried out four launch missions within 48 hours through multiple launch service providers, including private commercial space enterprises and state-owned aerospace groups, highlighting the increasing diversification of China's launch industry.
The report pointed out that China SatNet's GW constellation is benchmarked against SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet service. Jack Congram, who studies China's space industry, said that more than 200 satellites in the constellation are currently active. By comparison, astronomer Jonathan McDowell estimates that SpaceX has about 11,100 working Starlink satellites. SpaceX does not compete directly with Chinese launch service providers because relevant Chinese companies mainly sell services to the government. But Bensha said this situation may change.
"China hopes to sell services to other countries, either by launching satellites for these countries or by selling a complete package, including satellites, launches and downlinks," Bensha said. Bensha pointed out that if Chinese companies expand services to foreign customers, they will not only compete directly with SpaceX, but also compete with other US rocket launch companies, and this may also intensify competition in the European market.
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