BEIJING, April 15. /TASS/. South China's Hainan province will play a key role in promoting China's commercial space projects, the Global Times newspaper reported with reference to a government document.
According to the paper, to achieve this goal, the authorities will develop key industrial zones on the territory of the Wenchang International Aerospace City in the northeast of the island, which also houses a spacecraft launch center. In addition to launches in this part of Hainan, it is planned to establish satellite construction and launch vehicle production, as well as to ensure the development of satellite technologies.
To this end, the province will attract leading companies in the relevant industry and create a large-scale aerospace cluster to compete with advanced international locations. According to the document, China intends to actively develop commercial space launch infrastructure in Hainan and introduce relevant innovations. In particular, conditions for rocket recovery and recycling will be created.
It is expected that in the foreseeable future, China's southernmost province will contribute to the implementation of many low-cost, safe and reliable commercial space programs. In turn, the Chinese government will formulate effective regulations for their implementation.
In addition, the Chinese authorities plan to implement in Hainan an economic model adapted to the needs of new business formats related to space projects. In particular, this concerns culture and tourism, museums and scientific centers, ecology, breeding and pharmaceuticals.
Hainan's space center
Wenchang International Aerospace City, was established in October 2019, about three years after the nearby spaceport opened. Geographically, the facility, which covers an area of 42 square kilometers, consists of two zones about 15 kilometers apart. One is adjacent to the launch sites, while the other is a science city where an advanced scientific and industrial cluster will be formed based on high-tech companies.
In addition to the commercial zone, Wenchang also has a state spaceport (built in 2009) - one of China's four spaceports so far, and the only place in the country where technical conditions allow the launch of the CZ-7A (Chang Cheng 7-a) - the longest (60.7 meters) rocket of national design. Other next-generation carriers that only Hainan is capable of launching in the country are the commercial CZ-8, as well as the CZ-5 (Chang Cheng 8 and Chang Cheng 5). The latter has the largest mass (859-879 tons) among all national counterparts.
Seven Tianzhou cargo spacecraft, the core module of China's Tianhe orbital station and its Wentian and Mengtian laboratory modules, the Tianwen-1 Mars probe, and the Chang'e 5 unmanned lunar exploration vehicle were launched from the Hainan launch site. In addition, Wenchang has enabled China to put many satellites into orbit.