What are China’s space ambitions for the next few years?

In his last White Book, China reaffirmed its space ambitions and made it clear that the technological catch-up phase was over. A leading space power, China equals or surpasses Europe and the United States in a few specific areas such as human spaceflight, the weaponization of space, quantum telecommunications and certain aspects of exploration. robotics. As Philippe Coué, specialist in China, explains to us, this “ white paper does not reflect all of China’s space activities. Indeed, it only takes into account a part of civilian space activities and programs, around 40%, and does not mention military activities. “.

That said, the information it contains tells us about some of the Chinese government’s strategic choices and charts the course for the next five years. We learn that China will strengthen and consolidate its space infrastructure around the Earth, which provides useful services to everyone in fields as varied as navigation,earth observation (weather report, weather) and space telecommunications in particular.

Guarantor of sound autonomy access to space, China plans to strengthen and modernize its capabilities in matter launch. His family of launchers, already quite complete, will be reinforced with the commissioning of a new CZ-5 DY launcher for manned lunar flights, propellant strong momentum and the continued development, begun 15 years ago, of the CZ-9 heavy launcher high capacity (from 100 to 140 tonnes in orbit low). During these five years, China will also continue its efforts in reuse and “return to orbit” with an upper stage capable of returning to Earth, which could be a launcher element.

Chinese on the moon in the late 2020s

In the field of human spaceflight, the construction of his space station will continue with two new modules, Wentian and Mengtian, and the commissioning of the space telescope Xutian two meters in diameter. This telescope will fly in a co-orbital configuration with the station. It will come to moor there for maintenance operations. Its launch is scheduled for 2024. China will continue its efforts to prepare for the arrival of taikonauts on the Moon, which could take place as early as the end of this decade. In this sense, it will develop a lunar manned vehicle.

Robotic exploration of the Moon will continue at an astonishing pace. After reporting 1.731 kg of lunar samples of the ocean of storms (Chang’e 5), Chang’e 6 will bring back samples from the South Pole of the Moon, a region that Chang’e 7 will also join to make a complete reconnaissance of the landing site, with the objective of searching for water ice. These five years will also be used to continue the development of Chang’e 8, the launch of which is scheduled for 2027 or 2028. This mission will initiate the establishment of a moon station automatic that will be built with Russia. This station will evolve into a manned base in the 2030s.

A mission to the edge of the Solar System

Under development for ten years, the sample return mission of a asteroid classified as a quasi-satellite of the Earth should take off in 2024, or even in 2023. It should then join the comet (or active asteroid) 311P/Panstarrs in the Main Belt.

Although his martian program slightly behind the Moon, China has very high ambitions and plans to bring back samples from the Red Planet. During the 2030s, launches of probes are planned that will venture into the System Jovian and to the confines of the Solar System, to explore its limits.

In the field of astronomy, the program is also very ambitious with many missions dedicated to the study of gravitational waves, the physics ofspace-time, L’universe extreme, the search for habitable planets as well as the Earth-Sun relations and the measurement of the earth’s magnetic field.

Mars, asteroid, Jupiter…: China specifies its objectives

Article of Remy Decourt published on 02/07/2021

While awaiting the publication of the new white paper on its space strategy for the period 2021-2025, China, which is flying from success to success, lifted the veil on new objectives during a press conference held on June 12 and during the Startup Village 2021 meetings which took place at the end of May.

The latest Chinese advances in human spaceflight and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars have finished convincing the most undecided of China’s formidable space power, which today is on a par with the Nasa and the European Space Agency in many areas. Surprisingly, while relations with the United States have never been so dire and they are beginning to become strained with Europe, China wants to legitimize its international influence and wants to strengthen its existing partnerships with theESA and Roscosmos, and expand them to other nations.

During the event Startup Village 2021, which was held at the end of May at the Skolkovo Research Center near Moscow, and at a press conference, China gave new information on its ambitious robotic and human lunar exploration program, recently strengthened by the signing of a partnership with Russia to settle permanently on the Moon. After the Chang’e 6 and Chang’e 7 missions, already mentioned in our articles, is added Chang’e 8 which will test the3d printing, for the construction of hard infrastructure and the development of ISRU units (In-Situ Resource Utilization) to exploit and use lunar resources, with a view to a manned base planned for the 2030s.

Mars Sample Race

In the field of robotic exploration, new destinations have been added to the objectives of the Chinese Space Agency and others have been confirmed. Thus, by the end of this decade, a mission should be launched to Jupiter who could carry a lander or one rover to place on the surface of Callisto, one of the four Galilean moons of Jupiter. China also has a mission to return samples from an asteroid about ten meters in diameter classified as a quasi-satellite of Earth. It will collect samples from its surface and should then join comet (or active asteroid) 311P/Panstarrs in the Main Belt. Its launch is planned for the period 2024-2026. Emboldened by the tremendous technological success of its first martian mission, a faultless astonishing, China is planning a mission to return Martian samples with the “secret” objective of bringing them back before those of the NASA and ESA MSR mission, planned at best for the beginning of the 2030s. All these missions will be open to international cooperation.

To access space, the range of existing launchers will be reinforced with the arrival of a partially reusable launcher and a range of new heavy launchers. On this subject, China is rather discreet, just like on its project of space drone. About the Space station, whose construction has begun and is currently occupied by three taikonauts, China has reaffirmed that its construction will be completed in 2022. A logistical bet that will not be an easy task, even for the third space power in the world.

Developments used for civil and military space systems

In the domain of earth observation, space telecommunications and satellite positioning, China will strengthen all its capacities in order to guarantee its autonomy and to depend less on foreign data for this type ofapplication. She also wants to have a constellation more or less 13,000 satellites intended to provide access to Internet. China has also announced that it will strengthen its investment policy in infrastructure, research and development in the space sector in order to stimulate innovation and support the country’s economic and social development.

Finally, Chinese efforts to weaponize space have become the main aspect of the rivalry with the United States, whose leadership in this area is under attack. US intelligence considers this aspect of the Chinese space program to be one of the top security concerns for the United States.

China, which does not separate military activities from civil or commercial activities, as the United States does, does not express itself on this subject. To understand Washington’s fears, one must realize that if a country can develop a satellite capable of conducting rendezvous and proximity operations for refueling or debris removal, that same technological capability can be used to attack a satellite, degrade its orbit, or just get close enough to peek at it.eye ! Another example, the reuse of the second stage of a launcher for commercial or scientific purposes has potentially military applications such as the hosting of payloads or sensors.