China’s 2023 space launches a heads-up for US, Japan

Space race gathers speed in the new year as China’s CASC and Galactic Energy successfully blast new satellites into orbit

China’s space program is off to a fast start in 2023 with two successful launches, the first on January 8 by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and the second on January 9 by privately-owned Galactic Energy.

A Long March 7A rocket operated by CASC blasted three satellites into orbit: the Shijian 23, Shiyan-22A and Shiyan-22B. Developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, Shijian is a series of observation, monitoring and tracking satellites that are also used for scientific experiments and technical verification. Shijuan-23’s purpose is reportedly classified.

Shiyan satellites are used to test new technologies “such as space environment monitoring,” according to CASC. Gunter’s Space Page, a rocket and satellite information website named after German spaceflight historian Gunter D Krebs, notes that Shiyan 22A and 22B are “a pair Chinese satellites of unknown purpose.”

Classified satellites of unknown purpose are known to raise hackles at the Pentagon. In April 2021, General James Dickinson of the US Space Command wrote to the US Senate Armed Services Committee that, “Beijing actively seeks space superiority through space and space attack systems. One notable object is the Shijian-17, a Chinese satellite with a robotic arm. Space-based robotic arm technology could be used in a future system for grappling other satellites.”

A CERES-1 rocket operated by Galactic Energy put five satellites into orbit: the Tianmu-1 01 and 02 meteorological satellites, the Xiamen Keji-1 remote sensing satellite, the Tianqi-13 satellite for commercial space company Beijing Guodian Hi-Tech’s orbital “Internet of Things” constellation, and a science project satellite named Nantong Zhongxue, the elite Nantong Middle School from which many Chinese scientists and engineers have graduated.

Guodian Hi-Tech’s small Internet of Things communication satellites collect and transmit data for use in a wide range of applications including meteorology, geology, forestry, emergency services, smart cities and industry, and cover blind areas beyond the reach of land-based internet services. The constellation is designed to have 38 satellites when fully launched.

CASC’s rocket was launched from the Wenchang spaceport on the island of Hainan while Galactic Energy’s was blasted from Jiuquan spaceport in Inner Mongolia.

Long March rockets are the workhorse of China’s space program. More than 450 of them have been launched so far, starting with the Long March 1, which put China’s first satellite, the Dong Fang Hong 1 (The East is Red 1), into orbit in 1970. Long March refers to the 9,000-kilometer year-long strategic retreat of the Red Army during the Chinese Civil War.

The Long March 7A is a liquid-fuel rocket about 60 meters in length and 3.35 meters in diameter. It is capable of putting a payload of 13,500 kilograms into low earth orbit, 5,500 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers and 5,000 kilograms on a trajectory to the moon. After an initial failure in March 2020, China has had four consecutive successful launches of the rocket.

Last year, 53 Long March rockets put more than 140 payloads into space with no reported failures. More than 50 launches are planned for 2023.

A Ceres-1 Y5 carrier rocket is launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, January 9, 2023. Photo: Xinhua / Wang Jiangbo

The Ceres-1 is a much smaller four-stage rocket, with the first three stages solid-fueled and the fourth liquid-fueled. It is about 19 meters in length, 1.4 meters in diameter and capable of putting a payload of 400 kilograms into low earth orbit and 300 kilograms into sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers.

There have been five successful Ceres-1 launches and no failures since Galactic Energy became the second private Chinese company to put a satellite into orbit in November 2020. Private company i-Space (Glory Space Technology), which had a successful launch in 2019, was the first. Since then, however, i-Space has suffered three consecutive failures.

Other private Chinese space launch companies include LandSpace, LinkSpace, OneSpace and DeepBlue Aerospace. OneSpace became the first to launch a rocket (suborbital) in 2018. After a short distance test last year, DeepBlue Aerospace plans an orbital launch of its vertical take-off, vertical landing Nebula M1 rocket in 2024.

Galactic Energy plans to launch at least two more Ceres-1 rockets in early 2023, one from a platform in the Yellow Sea, and possibly several more later in the year.

In 2024, it aims to launch a larger rocket, the Pallas-1, which is about 42 meters long and capable of putting a 5,000-kilogram payload into low earth orbit and a 3,000-kilogram payload into sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers. The first stage of the Pallas-1 is designed to permit vertical landing like the Space X Falcon 9.

Galactic Energy is also developing a Pallas-2 rocket that will reportedly be capable of putting a 14,000-kilogram payload into low earth orbit.

Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1 resembles the Kairos rocket developed by the private Japanese company Space One. But while Space One is hoping for a successful launch on its third attempt in February, Galactic Energy has already established itself as a small satellite launch service. With the January 9 launch, the Chinese company has now put 19 satellites into orbit.

A view inside the payload fairing of the second Ceres-1. Credit: Galactic Energy

CASC puts the China National Space Administration’s (CNSA) programs into practice. It is engaged in the research, design, manufacture, test and launch of rockets, satellites, manned, robotic and cargo space ships, deep space exploration vehicles, space stations, and strategic and tactical missile systems.

CASC also has R&D and industrial facilities in Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Xian, Chengdu, Hong Kong and Shenzhen. It is involved in satellite and ground station operations, space-related commerce and information services, and software and financial investment. CASC is the only broadcast and communications satellite operator in China.

It is not shy about its abilities and its mission. In a recent statement, CASC said: “Under the strategy of military-civil integration, CASC pays great attention to space technology applications such as satellite applications, information technology, new energy and materials, special space technology applications, and space biology… CASC is dedicating itself to building China into a space power.”

As part of Washington’s tech war on China, the US last year imposed sanctions on CASC. But that has not prevented some 50 Long March rocket launches, including six missions to the China Space Station, and the recent success of the Ceres-1 small satellite launch vehicle.

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