China’s fourth spaceport completed in boost for space programme
Facility in southern Hainan province will allow for launching of large space stations and manned missions to moon and mars
Construction of the mainland’s fourth and biggest spaceport, in tropical southern Hainan province, has been completed and was ready for launching vehicles, the People’s Daily reported.
Completion of the centre, in Wenchang city, meant the launching of space station capsules and manned missions to the moon and Mars were “just a matter of time”, the Communist Party’s official newspaper said.
Built on the island facing the South China Sea, the large facility was needed in order launch a heavy vehicle, such as a big space station, which has been one of the mainland’s goals.
“We will highly likely accomplish human treks to the moon around 2025. The Chinese man flying to the moon will depart from Wenchang,” Long Lehao, a fellow of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, was quoted as saying.
The site was specially selected for its low latitude, 19 degrees north of the equator, which will allow for a substantial increase in payload. Rockets are launched near the equator because this is where the earth is spinning fastest, which results in better boost for the rocket.
The report did not say when the centre would be used first, but said it would launch the long-planned heavy-lift booster Long March-5 next year.
The report said Hainan had been considered one of the best locations for a spaceport back in the 1970s, but given that the cold war was in full swing then and its vulnerable coastal location, the facilities were built elsewhere in the country.
The global political landscape has stabilised, making the time ripe for the mainland’s fourth launch base to be built on the holiday island, it said.
The existing facilities are the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in the desert of northwest Gansu province, the nation’s only manned spacecraft launch centre; the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in north Shanxi province, capable of launching satellites into both medium and low orbits; and the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre, mainly to launch powerful-thrust rockets and geostationary satellites, in southwest Sichuan province.
China has conducted more than 100 space launches, sending over 100 satellites into space, Xinhua had reported previously.
An aerospace theme park was under construction as part of the Hainan centre that would help young people learn about space science and nationalism, it said.
