Category: Space

Industry Overview, mapping, Space

China Has Been Investing Massively in the Beidou SatNav Constellation: Here’s Why

Introduction You may have heard of Beidou, the Chinese satnav constellation and rival of the American GPS, Russian Glonass, and European Galileo. 2020 marked a major milestone for Beidou, with the completion of the constellation deployment on June 23 2020, on board a Long March 3B rocket. This deep dive article discusses the development of Beidou over the past 20 years and its strategic importance … Continue reading China Has Been Investing Massively in the Beidou SatNav Constellation: Here’s Why

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Industry Overview, Space

A Recap of 2020 in Chinese Space (in 10 Points)

2020 is coming to an end, and how unusual it has been, to say the least. This year has been an extremely eventful one for Chinese space, with many “firsts”, some major successes, as well as some failures. In this blog post, I do the useful exercise of looking retrospectively at 2020, and picking the most significant events. Without any further ado, let’s begin. 1 … Continue reading A Recap of 2020 in Chinese Space (in 10 Points)

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Industry Overview, Space

Chinese Private Constellations and the Art of the Pivot

In one of the most influential entrepreneurship books of the last 10 years, The Lean Startup by Eric Ries describes the necessity to test, iterate, and pivot until ultimately reaching a product that fits the market. Chinese tech companies have shown us that they excel at this practice (see the history of a company like Meituan [1]), and it increasingly seems like Chinese NewSpace companies, … Continue reading Chinese Private Constellations and the Art of the Pivot

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Interviews, Space

Discussing Chinese Satcom Constellations with Lan Tianyi (Repost from the Dongfang Hour)

Earlier this month, my friend Blaine Curcio and I had the opportunity to interview Lan Tianyi, the CEO of Ultimate Blue Nebula and SpaceKey, two Beijing-based firms focusing on space/satellite industry consulting. Having worked in the industry from within the state-owned apparatus (CAST), the startup perspective, and now as a consulting company, Tianyi is really a wealth of knowledge on Chinese space. And fortunately for … Continue reading Discussing Chinese Satcom Constellations with Lan Tianyi (Repost from the Dongfang Hour)

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aviation, Personal blog posts, Space

Introducing Dongfang Hour: a Podcast Specifically Dedicated to Chinese Aerospace & Technology

Regular followers of China Aerospace Blog may have noticed it over the past month, a new “Dongfang Hour Podcast” link has appeared on the navigation bar. After weeks of working on the project and recording the first episodes, I am pleased to officially present the project to China Aerospace Blog followers & visitors. In a nutshell, Dongfang Hour is a podcast dedicated to the Chinese … Continue reading Introducing Dongfang Hour: a Podcast Specifically Dedicated to Chinese Aerospace & Technology

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Industry Overview, mapping, Space, Start-ups

China’s Spaceplane Projects: Past, Present and Future

This article is the second and final part of a two-piece blog post by China Aerospace Blog on Chinese spaceplanes. The first part discussed China’s historical approach to reusability, and more specifically to spaceplanes. This part extends the discussion by reviewing current Chinese spaceplane projects, and provides a map. Mapping Current Chinese Spaceplane Projects Below is a map of all Chinese spaceplane projects, including abandoned … Continue reading China’s Spaceplane Projects: Past, Present and Future

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Industry Overview, Space

A Historical Perspective on Chinese Spaceplanes

This piece is the first of a two-part blog post by China Aerospace Blog on Chinese spaceplanes. It sets the context of spaceplanes in China, and goes over past attempts to make such vehicles. Part 2 will provide an analysis of current projects under development from Chinese state-owned and private companies. Table of Contents 1 – Introduction to spaceplanes 2 – China’s take on the … Continue reading A Historical Perspective on Chinese Spaceplanes

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Interviews, Investment, Personal blog posts, Space, Start-ups

Discussing the Most Marking Events of Chinese Space in 2019 (Podcast)

This article is a short summary for the end-of-year podcast my friend Blaine Curcio and I have recorded earlier this week, summing up the highlights of Chinese space in 2019. The podcast is freely available in the audio links below. Part 1: Launch, Constellations, Investment (58 minutes) Part 2: Space Exploration, and the “Pot Pourri Section” (39 minutes) For listeners accessing the webpage from China, … Continue reading Discussing the Most Marking Events of Chinese Space in 2019 (Podcast)

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Space

Long March 5 Launch in December: A Lot is at Stake

Excitement has been building up in China and among space enthusiasts ever since Chinese authorities have hinted at a possible return of Long March 5 to the launchpad at the end of the year. First mentioned by CGWIC during the Satellite Business Week in September 2019 [1], it was then further confirmed by the departure for Tianjin of the Yuan Wang 21 and 22 cargo … Continue reading Long March 5 Launch in December: A Lot is at Stake

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Industry Overview, Investment, Space, Start-ups

Thoughts on the “Hype” about China’s NewSpace Launcher Startups – (Part 2/2)

This blogpost is a follow-up of a previous article (part 1/2) discussing the hype about Chinese private launchers. While we previously essentially put emphasis on investment and launch vehicles from an offer standpoint, this second and final post focuses on the demand for launchers, in other words to what extent the small sat market will be able to sustain Chinese launchers. Market Size and Ecosystem … Continue reading Thoughts on the “Hype” about China’s NewSpace Launcher Startups – (Part 2/2)

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