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)
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)
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
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)
Introduction The NewSpace mapping of China Aerospace Blog has just been updated (June 2019 edition), adding 32 more startups to the landscape. Just as the previous edition, are included in the mapping the following companies: Private space startups, the core of the mapping, and most of which have been founded after the opening of China’s space industry to private investment in 2014 (see China’s New … Continue reading A Large Scale Update of the China Aerospace Blog NewSpace Mapping (June 2019 edition)
This blog post inaugurates a more personal article series, that will give an account of my trips and visits in China (exhibitions, rocket launches, visits…). Do let me know what you think in the comments or by private message. This weekend marks the closure of the events surrounding the 4th edition of China Space Day, which took place in Changsha from the 22nd to the … Continue reading Impressions on the 2019 edition of China Space Day, in Changsha
This article looks at the technical choices of Chinese NewSpace startups regarding propulsion technology and expendability/reusability, and what this reveals of their understanding of the commercial launch market. At the time of writing, we are entering the 5th year of China’s “Open Up Policy” in the space industry, which has enabled private capital to flow into space companies and triggered the emergence of a large … Continue reading The Technical Choices of China’s NewSpace Launcher Companies in 2019
Yet another new Chinese launcher start-up has been revealed and put into the spotlight this week: Space Transportation (which is a rough translation of its Chinese name: 凌空天行). The company was actually founded back in August 2018, but had been keeping a low profile ever since. However last Thursday, Source Code Capital (源码资本) published on its WeChat official account that “it had provided Space Transportation … Continue reading Space Transportation (凌空天行), yet another Chinese launcher start-up entering the NewSpace race
Introduction Chinese space has been a very hot topic in recent years. Other than the impressive space exploration missions (Tiangong, Chang’e…), the interest for China is also due to the recent opening up of this industry to private investments, which has led to a leap in the number of space start-ups. These start-ups, supported by venture capital heavy-weights are covering the entire space industrial chain: … Continue reading China’s NewSpace: Mapping of its 60+ Start-ups
Essential Capital (a.k.a 元航资本 in Chinese) is a Chinese VC firm founded in 2015 and based in Beijing. Essential Capital considers itself an early-middle stage investor, with a major focus on “hard tech”. As an early mover within the VC world into the burgeoning Chinese space industry, the company’s founders gave some interesting insights on the topic in an interview to the Chinese media Iyiyou … Continue reading Interview with Essential Capital (元航资本) on the Perspectives of Commercial Space in China
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