Chinese scientist proposes solar system-wide resource utilization roadmap.
HELSINKI — Chinese space scientists have outlined a tentative roadmap for establishing a space resources utilization network stretching into the outer reaches of the solar system.
Wang Wei, a scientist affiliated to CASC, China’s main space contractor, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), is proposing a four-stage roadmap for a space resources utilization project which would, eventually, span the entire solar system by 2100.
The initiative is titled Tiangong Kaiwu and takes its name from Ming Dynasty scientist Song Yingxing’s work, “The Exploitation of the Works of Nature.” It proposes developing strategic mineral resources, utilizing off-world water-ice for fuel, creating transport and supply nodes, and establishing a space resource development system.
The proposal is not an approved government plan, but is an indication of some of the current thinking on long term visions for space exploration and exploitation in China.
It envisions initially constructing water-ice resource development facilities on the moon. Water can be separated into hydrogen and oxygen and used as propellant. These capabilities would be used to expand to near-Earth asteroids, Mars, main-belt asteroids and the moons of Jupiter.
China’s Galactic Energy Startup Takes on SpaceX with First Sea Launch.
Galactic Energy has carried out the first sea-based rocket launch by a private Chinese company, just two days after Elon Musk boasted that his firm SpaceX was sending far more rockets into space than China.
Chinese media touted Tuesday’s launch of the sea-borne variant of the CERES 1 carrier rocket from a modified submersible ship in the Yellow Sea, off the coast of East China’s Shandong province.
The launch meant that the CERES 1 became the third Chinese rocket model, and the first produced by a private company, able to make lift-off both on land and at sea.
Galactic Energy was founded in early 2018 by former workers of the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). In November 2020, it became the second private Chinese launch firm to place a satellite in orbit.
Tuesday saw Galactic Energy’s ninth consecutive successful orbital launch, which Chinese media said surpassed the country’s other private competitors.
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