Chinese Space Launches Could Double in 2023 Written 14 February 2023
Long March 6 makes maiden flight. | Credit: Wikipedia; Fair Use
Space News reports that launches conducted “by commercial Chinese launch service providers could more than double those attempted last year, according to firms’ plans for 2023.” The more than 20 launches “now planned by commercial launch service providers would notably eclipse the total number of orbital launches conducted by China in 2017, demonstrating the rapid growth in Chinese launch capacity and cadence in recent years.” The development could “provide momentum to deployment of Chinese commercial small satellite constellations and have implications internationally for space traffic management.” China conducted “a national record 64 launches in 2022, with 54 of these accounted for by the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).” Other actors – namely Expace, Landspace, iSpace and Galactic Energy – “contributed 10 more, including a pair of launch failures.” CASC has declared “its intentions to surpass 60 launches this year, but the companies above and a handful of new entrants are planning more than 20 launches of their own.”
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