Key goals in 11 th Five-Year Plan for Space Development

While sections 5.2 and 5.3 pointed out which goals exist in the current Five-Year Plan that relate either fully or partially to space, this section has a closer look at a document that only focuses on space: the 11th Five-Year Plan for Space Development. This plan contains the most important steps that China’s space industry should implement between 2006 and 2010.

In general the 11th Five-Year Plan for Space Development wants to strengthen the whole Chinese space endeavor. The quality of products of the Chinese space industry and customer service quality shall be improved. Internally the capacity for self-sufficient innovation and the industry’s overall development capacity shall all be improved. The space program shall bring economic and public benefits. Similar to the direction already pointed out in the 11th Five-Year Plan it also suggests a strong focus on building a pool of capable human resources in order to advance the Chinese space endeavor in the future.

The overall goals of the space program are still to fulfill the needs of China’s developing economy, its national security and to serve the requirements of its scientific and technological progress, and the society’s progress (Hangtian Fazhan Shiyiwu Guihua 2007: 3).

The following is a list of the key projects that China has to tackle: 1) Manned space program

It is China’s dedicated goal to advance its manned space program. Manned space has become one of the key space projects that China maintains at the moment. So far China has already successfully launched seven missions and tested some essential techniques for future missions. The current plan states to develop the capacity for space walks and to handle spacecraft docking in space. On the long term the goal is to establish a manned space station for conducting experiments in space (Hangtian Fazhan Shiyiwu Guihua 2007: 6).

2) Lunar exploration

The focus of the 11th Five-Year Plan for Space Development is set on the first stage of the lunar exploration program: sending a satellite to orbit the Moon. That satellite’s mission is to map existing substances and their distribution on the Moon’s surface as well as to complete a full survey of the Moon. Furthermore it has to observe the space weather throughout its journey.

While this satellite will be prepared and launched, a second mission with the goal of a soft landing on the Moon will be prepared. Parallel work will commence on the third stage of the lunar exploration: a sample return mission, which means to land a robot on the Moon, execute scientific exploration, collect soil samples and let it return to the Earth (Hangtian Fazhan Shiyiwu Guihua 2007: 6).

3) Development of a high-resolution earth observation system

The goal is to establish a high resolution Earth observation system that is composed of satellites, airplanes and stratospheric air ships. Furthermore that system will be aligned with the ground segment (Hangtian Fazhan Shiyiwu Guihua 2007: 7).

4) Beidou satellite navigation system

The goal is to optimize the currently existing Beidou-I system in order to satisfy national needs and fulfill neighbor country’s requests for that satellite navigation system. Furthermore, the deployment of the global satellite navigation system (Beidou-II) shall start in order to expand Beidou to a global satellite navigation system. At the same time its application in endeavors

like space traffic management, smart urban transportation systems and communication shall be promoted (Hangtian Fazhan Shiyiwu Guihua 2007: 7).

5) Next generation carrier rocket

Complete the research work on a carrier rocket with a 120 tons thrust rocket engine that runs on liquid oxygen and kerosene as well as a rocket engine with 50 tons thrust that runs on hydrogen and oxygen. The basic principles for the development of the new rocket are: no poisonous substances, no pollution, low cost, high reliability, high flexibility and safety. First research and construction steps of this new carrier rocket shall be executed according to these principles. Within the timeframe of the 11th Five-Year Plan the key technologies need to be mastered, the basic research and development finished and a carrying capacity of ten to twenty- five tons for low earth orbit (LEO) and six to fourteen tons for GEO transfer orbit (GTO) achieved.

The 11th Plan for Space Development is consistent with the 11th Five-Year Plan in the areas of innovation and strengthening the pool of human resources. Especially the development of role models who are capable of executing new missions from the beginning has been highlighted at various occasions. Except for Beidou, those other projects relate very much to what has been outlined in other plans. The plans for lunar exploration in this plan are already more precise than those offered by the current Five-Year Plan. Additionally to the tasks of mapping and surveying the lunar surface, a potential satellite also has the task of measuring the space weather. This relates directly to another science mission that China has planned: Kuafu, a mission to monitor space weather. The Plan for Space Development also shows that the deployment of Beidou-II shall continue, which will eventually lead to a full fledged global satellite navigation system, as opposed to Beidou-I which only offers regional coverage. In terms of terrestrial applications Beidou has direct implications for a so called smart urban traffic management systems that China plans to develop. Also in line with the goal of privatizing certain areas of China’s space industry, Beidou is an important project as it is supposed to be the driving force for these privatizations. This is similar to western countries where communication and satellite navigation systems have achieved to attract many private companies.

Another key area in the Plan for Space Development is to improve the service level which essentially means to offer more space-based applications that are useful in dealing with specific problems on Earth. Examples include better meteorological satellites, satellites to search for

natural resources and satellites to monitor and prevent natural disasters. There is a clear focus on projects with a benefit for the Chinese society. Tele-education and tele-medicine are mentioned in this context as well. This means that China tries to implement programs that support students in remote areas to receive lectures via satellites. In remote areas this is often the only way to receive them. Tele-medicine is another example of applied satellite technology for satisfying terrestrial needs as Europe and Northern America have demonstrated.

5.5 Space-related goals in the Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Scientific and