Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Fourth space launch center of China to be operational by 2015

The People’s Republic of China has made a recent announcement that its fourth launch center, located at the tropical island province of Hainan, will be ready for use in a period of two years. The Wenchang center has been under construction since 2009.

According to Zhou Jianping, designer-in-chief of China's manned space program, the launch center will be utilized for Long March-7 and Long March-5 rockets to send space station capsules and cargo ships into orbit, as well as heavy satellites, deep space probe satellites, big space stations and synchronous satellites. The Wenchang center is designed to administer up to twelve rocket launches in a year.

As of the moment, China has three other space launch centers. However, these bases are located in western or northern plateau and mountainous regions, needs commercial development and are inconvenient for transportation. The fourth space launch center is expected to address these issues and help rockets consume less fuel to get into space because of its improved location.

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