China has unveiled its plan to construct a new space launch center on Hainan Island after years of discussions.
To be built in Wenchang, a city about 60 km south of the provincial capital of Haikou, the 20 sq km complex is expected to include a command center, a space launching port, a rocket assembling plant, a rocket launching base and a theme park.
According to the plan, the center will be primarily used for launching synchronous satellites, heavy satellites, large space stations, and deep space probe satellites. The State Council and the Central Military Commission have approved the plan.
As China's fourth space center, Wenchang's low-latitude and geographic proximity to the equator would help increase the capacity of rocket carriers and extend the life span of satellites, the Xinhua News Agency said.
Wenchang also has the unique advantage of sea access.
The three other bases are all located inland.
Proposals for construction of the Hainan site were first reported in 1999, over four decades after China began building its first rocket launch site in Jiuquan in northwestern Gansu Province in 1958. The other two facilities are in Taiyuan, northern Shanxi, and Xichang, southwestern Sichuan, built in 1967 and 1970, respectively.
Together, the bases have launched more 100 satellites and six manned spacecraft into space.
After completion of the Wenchang project, which earlier reports indicated to be around 2010, Jiuquan will continue to launch re-entry satellites and manned spacecraft. Taiyuan, too, will still be responsible for satellites that orbit the sun, while the Xichang operations will be used only for emergency missions.
The Chinese government works on the peaceful use of outer space to promote development of human civilization, and social development to benefit the whole of mankind, a spokesman for China's space program was quoted by Xinhua as saying.
In 2003, China launched its first manned space mission, making it the third country to send a human into orbit after Russia and the United States.
The country is also planning to launch its first lunar probe "Chang'e I" by the end of this year.
Source: China Daily/Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article