Profile picture
, 13 tweets, 4 min read Read on Twitter
So...China's leader Xi Jinping met Chang'e-4 mission representatives in Beijing today congratulate them for the success & call for further efforts in lunar & deep space exploration, underlining political support for Chinese space industry & expanding plans chinadaily.com.cn/a/201902/20/WS…
China's space programme has enjoyed solid, continued support since the late 1970s following the end of the Cultural Revolution, taking a long-term view of economic & technological realities & China's future aims. There's no suggestion that support today is anything but solid.
The Chinese economy was under US$200 bn in late 1970s in today's value, but reached over $13 trillion in 2018. From humble beginnings, China is approaching 'full spectrum' space capabilities, with civilian, national security & commercial programs with est. budget of $11bn in 2017
(The news article mentions "peaceful use of space and the building of a community with a shared future for humanity," but China's satellite constellations very much provide force-enhancing PNT, intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance, and deterrence capabilities
The space program is used for military purposes, international prestige and soft power (cooperation, esp. with developing nations), domestic legitimacy (one reason for secretive nature/hiding failure), and also economic and technological development. But its also forward-looking.
SASTIND is developing a 20-year lunar exploration plan, of which Chang'e-4 is the 1st step of the latest stage, working towards a 'robotic research base' and potential crewed lunar missions and outpost in the 2030s.
CASC, a state-owned defence/aerospace company & China's main space contractor, has developed a 'space transportation roadmap' to 2050, including reusable launchers, super-heavy-lift rockets, reusable space planes and a, uh, nuclear space shuttle.
There's a planetary & deep space exploration roadmap also. planetary.org/multimedia/spa…
As well as a military-civilian integration national strategy that is boosting creation of commercial small satellites and launch vehicles in order to foster innovation and new economic drviers.
And yet, NASA and US space sector is way, way ahead (SpaceX/Falcon 9/Heavy, Blue Origin, Planet, New Horizons, all the Mars missions, the Voyagers, Shuttle, Apollo - all out-of-this-world amazing). But the thing is...
...this is a very interesting time, seeing reshaping global space activities. With Russia in apparent decline, China's space programme on the rise, the United States (and others) needing to set out the way ahead, including what mix of competition & cooperation that path involves.
Missing some Tweet in this thread?
You can try to force a refresh.

Like this thread? Get email updates or save it to PDF!

Subscribe to Andrew Jones
Profile picture

Get real-time email alerts when new unrolls are available from this author!

This content may be removed anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!