“Chinese commercial aviation has brought the best opportunity for development. It has entered the 2.0 era of application attraction and market leadership from the 1.0 era of basic production and product R&D, and will reach the development level of the US within 10 years,” said Yang Yiqiang, the first commander in chief of the missile. Long March-11, according to a report by The Global Times on September 17.
Yang is currently the Director of the Center for Aeronautical Science and Technology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. On July 27, the first successful flight of Lijian-1, the country’s largest rocket, was carried out by CAS Space, a company involved in its development. Yang’s other title as founder of CAS Space then became known.
Yang said China’s commercial aerospace boom period will come no later than 2027, according to the three signs. First, satellite constellations are formed on a large scale and launch vehicles enter the high-density launch phase to realize low-cost liquid rocket recovery and reuse. Second, the business model created by commercial aerospace, such as space tourism, can be realized. Third, navigation positioning, navigation enhancement, low earth orbit internet, and remote sensing constellation can provide services to the public and enterprises.
Space travel can be divided into three types. The first involves entering the space station, which has strict requirements for the physical and psychological quality of the participants. The second is to take participants into space from two-plane aircraft carriers represented by Virgin Galactic’s White Knight, although this way has poor comfort and safety. The third is sub-orbital travel with mature technology, which is suitable for most people.
As business models improve, China is expected to begin sub-orbital travel in 2025, with fares of around 2 million to 3 million yuan ($285,404 – $428,100).
Yang believes the key to China’s commercial aerospace development is not rockets or satellites, but applications. The closer the services are to the common people and end users, the higher the business income. Yang has encouraged commercial aerospace players to penetrate the lives of ordinary people.
Yang pointed out that in the field of commercial aerospace, China and the US have formed a certain market scale. The US began to promote the commercialization of space in the 1980s. When Elon Musk founded SpaceX, the industry was maturely developed in the US. Although China’s commercial aerospace operations started late, policy support, capital support and market demand will allow it to eventually catch up. 2015 was the first year of commercialization of China’s aerospace. In the last seven years, major enterprises have emerged in the field of rocket and satellite applications.
At present, China’s commercial aerospace field has entered the 2.0 era and is expected to enter the 3.0 era within five years. During this period, it is necessary to increase the capacity of rockets from 5 tons to 14 tons, build a global satellite constellation, realize recycling of rockets and reduce costs.
China’s aerospace development has received great political support. According to a white paper released by the State Council Information Office in January this year, in the next five years, China will cultivate new economic formats such as space tourism, space biopharmaceuticals, space debris removal and testing services. of space, to improve the efficiency at scale of the space industry.
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Compared to satellite Internet, satellite communication and satellite navigation, the rapid development of the commercial aerospace industry has created new areas of application. According to Future Space, a service platform, there were 32 investments and financings in the field of domestic commercial aerospace in 2020, with a total financing amount of 9.013 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 76%.
