No discussion of space security would be complete without addressing the physical
and technological components. Space technologies are exceedingly complex both
in terms of engineering and in classification. The same communications satellite
may be used by military, civilian, and commercial customers of one or more nationalities.
This section of the website will introduce the technological capabilities available
to the United States and China in terms of on-orbit assets, launch capabilities,
industrial production, and human and robotic space exploration. Many helpful
resources exist on the web to begin introducing these various aspects of the
technology of space security.
United States
1. GlobalSecurity.org: Space (English)
2. Congressional Research Service: U.S. Space Programs: Civilian, Military,
and Commercial (PDF) (English)
3. Congressional Research Service: Military Space Programs: Issues Concerning
DOD's SBIRS and STSS Programs (PDF) (English)
China
China's Programs and Technology
China's space program was officially launched by Mao Zedong in 1956 and four
years later, on November 5, 1960, China made its entrance into space with the
launch of its first R-2 rocket. Though China's space program has gone through
many traumatic upheavals since then, space has become one of the cornerstones
of China's national development strategy by "revitalizing the country with national
security, science and technology and social progress. Today, China's program
is divided into 4 main activities.
* Launch Vehicles (English)
* Satellites (English)
* Human Space Flight (English)
* Deep Space Exploration (English)
Launch Sites and Vehicles and Missiles
Launch Sites
China currently has three primary launch
centers and is building a fourth.
* Xichang Launch Center, in Sichuan Province, has two launch pads and is used
for all satellite launches into geostationary orbit
* Jiuquan Space Facility, in Gansu Province, has three launch pads for satellites
into lower earth orbits.
* Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, in Shanxi Province, has a single pad from
which satellites are launched into sun-synchronous and polar orbits. This site
is also used for ICBM (Inter-continental Ballistic Missile) tests.
* Hainan
will host China's fourth launch facilities, providing a safer, logistically
easier launch redundancy capabilities that China needs.
Launch Vehicles
Launch vehicle technology is one of the foundations of China's ambitions programs
in space. As a result, China has developed an impressive range of launch rockets
to support its military and commercial space assets including:
* Long March Carrier Rocket Series (LM), which includes 14 kinds of launch vehicles
and 12 types of carrier rockets. The LM-1 sent the 173 kg Dongfanghong 1 Satellite
into orbit in 1970 and the latest LM-2F, which a payload capacity of 9.2 tons,
carried China's first Taikonaut into space in October of 2003. (For a thorough
description of China's launch
vehicle technologies and history)
Carrier Vehicle Type
First Launch Time
Launch Numbers
Success Rate
Typical Carrying Capacity
Orbit
Payload Launched
Long March 1
1970.04.24.
2
100%
300kg
LEO, 400 km
Chinese first satellite
Long March 2
1974.11.05
4
75%
1800kg
LEO
Chinese first recoverable satellite and remote sensing satellite
Long March 2C
1982.09.09
16
100%
2400kg
LEO, 200-470 km
Recovery satellites
Long March 2C/SD
1997.09.01
7
100%
1456kg
Be able to launch many kinds of low orbit satellites
Iridium Satellites
Long March 2D
1992.08.09
6
100%
3700kg
LEO
Recovery scientific experimental satellites
Long March 2E
1990.07.16
7
71.40%
3500kg for GTO, 9200kg for LEO
GTO & LEO
Main Vehicle for low orbit launch
Long March 2F
1999.11.20
5
100%
7600kg
LEO
Shenzhou series
Long March 3
1984.01.29
13
76.90%
1600kg
GTO
Communication satellites
Long March 3A
1994.02.08
9
100%
2600kg
GTO
Communication satellites and Beidou series
Long March 3B
1996.02.15
6
83.30%
5100kg
GTO
Communication satellites
Long March 4
1988.09.07
8
100%
2790kg for SSO, 1419kg for GTO, 4595kg for LEO
SSO, GTO, LEO
Sun - synchronous meteorology and resources satellites
Long March 4B
2004.09.08
2
100%
2500kg for SSO
SSO
Sun - synchronous resources satellites
Ballistic Missiles
Dongfeng Ballistic Missile Series (DF) includes six types of operational land-based
nuclear-capable ballistic missiles as the flight-tested DF-31,
though this is likely not yet deployed. A longer range road mobile ballistic missile,
the DF-41, is also being developed, but has not been flight tested. China has
one operation submarine launched ballistic missile (SLBM), the Julang-1,
(unsure whether this is deployed) and an additional Julang-2 SLBM, a sea-based
version of the DF-31, which was flight-tested in June, 2005. Twelve Julang-1 are
thought to be deployed on China's single Xia-class ballistic missile nuclear submarine
(SSBN).
On April 24, 1970, China successfully developed and launched its first on-orbit
satellite, the Dongfanghong 1 and became the third country in the world with
the capability of developing and launching satellites independently. Since that
time, China has successfully developed and launched more than 60 artificial
satellites in the past 35 years. In 1985, China made the transition from experimental
satellites to applications satellites. China classifies its satellites into
six basic categories: recoverable remote sensing; communications; meteorological;
scientific and technical experiment satellites; and earth resources and navigation.
Below is a table of China's satellites and capabilities to date.
TYPE
DATE
SATELLITE
ORBIT
LAUNCH VEHICLES
Recoverable Satellite
1975.11.26.
FHW-1
LEO
LM-2C F01
1976.12.07.
LM-2C F02
1978.01.26.
LM-2C F03
1982.09.09.
LM-2C F04
1983.08.19.
LM-2C F05
1984.09.12.
LM-2C F06
1985.10.21.
LM-2C F07
1986.10.06.
LM-2C F08
1987.08.05.
LM-2C F09
1987.09.09.
FHW-2
LM-2C F10
1988.08.05.
LM-2C F11
1990.10.05.
LM-2C F12
1992.10.06.
LM-2C F13
1993.10.08.
LM-2C F14
1992.08.09.
FHW-3
LM-2D F01
1994.07.03.
LM-2D F02
1996.10.20.
LM-2D F03
2003.11.03
FHW-4
LM-2D F04
2004.08.28
FHW
LM-2C F15
2004.09.27
LM-2D F05
Communications
Satellite
1970.04.24.
DFH-1
LEO
LM-1 F01
1984.01.29.
DFH-2
GTO
LM-3 F01
1984.04.08.
LM-3 F02
1986.02.01.
LM-3 F03
1988.03.07.
DFH-2A
LM-3 F04
1988.12.22.
LM-3 F05
1990.02.04.
LM-3 F06
1991.12.28.
LM-3 F08
1994.11.30.
DFH-2
LM-3A F02
1997.05.12.
LM-3A F03
Meteorological
Satellite
1988.09.07.
FY-1
SSO
LM-4 F01
1990.09.03.
LM-4 F02
1999.05.10.
LM-4 F03
1997.06.10.
FY-2
GTO
LM-3 F12
2000.06.25
LM-3 F13
2002.05.15
FY-1D
SSO
LM-4 F06
2004.10.19
FY-2C
GTO
LM-3A F09
Experimental Satellite
1971.03.03.
SJ-1
LEO
LM-1 F02
1981.9.
SJ-2
FB-1
1981.9.
SJ-2A
FB-1
1981.9.
SJ-2B
FB-1
1994.02.08.
SJ-4
GTO
LM-3A F01
1999.05.10.
SJ-5
SSO
LM-4 F03
2004.09.08
SJ-6
LM-4B F09
2004.04.18
Experiment Satellite-1
LM-2C/CTS F01
2004.11.18
Experiment Satellite-2
LEO
LM-2C F16
2003.12.30
TC-1
LM-2C/SM F01
2004.07.25
TC-2
LM-2C/SM F02
Earth Resources
Satellite
1999.10.14.
CBERS
SSO
LM-4 F04
2003.10.21
CBERS-2
LM-4 F08
2000.09.01
ZY-2
LM-4 F05
2002.10.27
LM-4 F07
2004.11.06
LM-4B F10
Navigation Satellite
2000.10.31
BD-1
GTO
LM-3A F05
2000.12.21
BD-2
LM-3A F06
2003.05.25
BD-1-03
LM-3A F07
By nature, mot satellite technology has dual-use potential. Though several discussions on China's capabilities in areas such as intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance are available, it is not known with any certainty the degree of China's military capability regarding its space assets.
China's Military Space Program: Strategic Threat, Regional Power, or National
Defense (English)
China in Space: Civilian and Military Development (English)
Human Space Flight
One of China's most important ambitions in space began in 1992 with the establishment
of China's Shenzhou manned space program. The Shenzhou
series, launched by the LM-2F carrier rocket, has had five successful flights,
with the last one sending Yang Wei, China's first taikonaut into space.
* On November of 1999, Shenzhou I was launched from the Jiuquan launch site using a newly designed Long March Carrier Rocket 2-F, landing safely the next day in Inner Mongolia.
* Shenzhou II, launched in January of 2001 remained on-orbit for 7 days.
* Shenzhou III launched on Mar 25, 2002, orbited earth for almost 180 days in space and carried out a number of scientific experiments.
* In December of 2002, Shenzhou IV, though un-manned, employed the full technology and status for manned space flight
* On Oct 15, 2003, Shenzhou
V established China as the third country in history to successfully put man
in space.
* Shenzhou
VI is scheduled to be launched between September and November, 2005. It will
send two astronauts into space for a number of days and will further carry out
space scientific experiments in the orbital module.
Deep space exploration in China began with the ChangE Program in 2004. The initial focus of this visionary program is to orbit and explore the Moon and thereafter to explore Mars around 2020.
The ChangE Program was announced by the Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence (COSTIND) formally on Feb 25, 2004, detailing the three phases of the plan including the orbiting, landing on and returning from the Moon. For the first phase, the lunar exploration satellite ChangE 1 will be launch in 2006 with the second phase of landing and exploring the Moon to be accomplished between 2007 and 2010. In the third phase, the will be able to return to earth after investigation and sampling of the Moon and is scheduled to be completed between 2010 and 2020.
With the government's official confirmation that Mars exploration will be the next important objective for China's space program, Chinese scientists are already planning the Mars exploration, which is hoped to begin before the year 2020.
