Sichuan to invest 1 billion Yuan for commerical launches
Sichuan to invest 1 billion Yuan for commerical launches
Liangshan Prefecture & Sichuan Province have established a new company to invest in a commerical spaceport at Xichang.
Announced on October 10th, the governments of Sichuan Province (四川) and Liangshan Prefecture (凉山彝族自治州) established Sichuan Development International Commercial Spaceport Co., Ltd. (四川发展国际商业航天港有限), under the parent company Sichuan Development Holding Co., Ltd. (四川发展（控股）有限责任公司), who themselves are owned by the Sichuan Provincial Government.
Signing of a ‘strategic cooperation agreement’ between Liangshan Prefecture and Sichuan Development Holding occurred the day before in the city of Xichang (西昌市) to establish the company mentioned above. This company is expected to investigate and develop a commercial orbital launch site at or near the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, similar to what happened in Wenchang. No timelines have been shared for this process.
Xu Yixin (徐一心), of Sichuan Development Holding, has said that building a commercial spaceport is:
“A major strategic move to serve the country and the province's important issues” and “A vivid manifestation of seizing the commanding heights of future development and promoting high-quality development.”
If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.
Shi Xia (施遐), of the Office of the Military-Civilian Integration Development Committee of the Sichuan Provincial Committee, added that building a commercial spaceport in Sichuan is important in achieving China’s goal of becoming an aerospace power along with strengthening new productive forces in the province.
According to a listing that appeared on September 3rd on Qichacha (企查查), Sichuan Development International Commercial Spaceport has 1 billion Yuan in registered capital, or 141.5 million United States Dollars at the time of publication. This substantial amount of capital will be used to develop a world-class commercial launch center, reported Sichuan News (shared by raz_liu on X).
It’s unclear where a commercial site will be built at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center due to the limited flat ground, as the launch site is located inside a mountain range. Two launchpads already exist at the launch site to support the Long March 2, 3, and 4 series of launch vehicles. A small flat area of concrete is also present at the site to support launches of the Long March 11 and Kuaizhou-1A but is likely too small for commercial liquid fuel vehicles.
A possible spot for commercial launch pads could be to the north of the existing site due to the large amount of farmland in the valley. At the top of this valley is a small village, it’s not entirely unfeasible that the local government would financially support these residents in finding a new place to live. (side note: I am not an engineer or land surveyor and just speculating).
Topography will be a challenge no matter where this commercial launch site is built. To protect the current launch infrastructure from falling debris, many retaining walls have been built along with placing the launchpads away from the hills.
Xichang is beneficial for launching spacecraft beyond low Earth orbit due to its proximity to the equator. As such offering a second launch site for commercial rockets with a lower latitude can be advantageous for drawing space talent to Sichuan, along with the capital that comes with it.
Commercial launch sites are not a new development in China. Wenchang is gearing up to conduct the first launch of potentially dozens over the next twelve months. The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center also has launchpads owned by privately held launch companies, notably CAS Space and LandSpace.