Xi'an industrial chain shaping future of space technology

The historical city of Xi'an in northwestern China plays a pivot role in the country's development of space science and applications. In a place known as the city's aerospace town, an emerging commercial industrial chain is looking to shape the future. 

Xi'an, an aviation and aerospace manufacturing base, is a good place to see the progress being made in China's commercial space industry. Let's start with the satellite companies there.

This company is building a satellite constellation that will be used for environmental protection in the Qinling Mountain area, just south of Xi'an. It's the range that divides north China from the south. The company plans to manufacture more than 100 remote-sensing satellites in the next five years.

LEI XIAOLONG, Chief Technical Officer of Xi'an Star Cloud Network Technology, said, "This is a real-size model for the second phase of this constellation which is based on the standardized design, fast upgrading, and low-cost operation. It weighs about 50 kilograms. We plan to have 20 of them in orbit before 2025, some 58 by 2028 and about 150 by 2030."

Another Xi'an-based company has been focusing on CubeSat, a micro satellite weighing as little as one kilogram.

YU XIAOZHOU, Chief Scientist of CoSats, said, "It has distinct advantages because it's small and flexible and could be sent into space easily. There were examples of one rocket with more than 100 CubeSats on board. It's impossible for big satellites. We spend tens of thousands of yuan to send one kilogram of payload into space. So, there is a big cost difference between the ones with weights of a ton or ten kilograms."

The scientist said due to their size, CubeSats only have one function, like photographing for example, but in combination they can perform multiple tasks. The low-orbit constellation uses low-cost and high-efficiency rockets. New rocket engine companies have also emerged in Xi'an.

This one provides support to both national missions and commercial operations. It developed the YF-102 engine, which was used to power the first Chinese-made commercial liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit last year.

SHI YONG, General Manager of Shaanxi Aerospace Commercial Liquid Rocket Engine, said, "Now, we know more about the market. We keep upgrading the engines. The YF-102 is not only based on our experiences, but also innovations, lower costs, and technologies that better meet the market needs. And the engines must have high-cost performance. This will make rockets more competitive."

The startup Space Pioneer is also developing a reusable liquid oxygen kerosene engine to be used in the Tianlong-3 carrier rocket, which will be similar to SpaceX's Falcon-9 model.

ZHANG CHENGZHI, Structural Design Engineer of Xi'an Propulsion R&D Center, Space Pioneer, said, "Now, we have delivered nine such engines for the first stage of this rocket. Each one of them has a vacuum thrust of 110 tons. The first stage will soon be reusable with maintenance. And the reason we choose to set the engine factory here is because Xi'an has a robust supply chain for rocket engines."

Tracking, telemetry and command systems are critical components of the business chain.

ZOU JIN, Assistant General Manager of CasTianta Tech, said, "We established a channel to receive the telemetry data from satellites in orbit and send commands to keep them working normally. This is a constant process, especially in the future when there will be a big increase in satellites."

After almost a decade of development, China's commercial space industry is said to be bracing for the next big step.

CAO ZHIYUAN, Deputy General Manager of Xi'an Huanyu Satellite Control & Data Application, said, "We are happy to see, especially in this year's government work report and during the two sessions, that commercial aerospace is viewed as an important part of the new development engine and new quality productive force. This is a great encouragement."

Xi'an, for decades an aerospace manufacturing hub, is pushing the boundaries of innovation in China's commercial space sector.