Speaking to dignitaries and over 2,000 invited guests at the ceremony that was held at the Peking University last Wednesday (Oct. 4), Song Jian, President of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), pledged that the State would "continue support space enterprises to actively participate in international commercial space launch service under the principle of 'equal, fair and mutual beneficial' ".

Song also said that the government would foster further exchange and cooperation between China and other nations in space technologies, applications and science, as well as in areas such as terrestrial environmental research and space environment exploration.

"As a member of the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS), the Chinese government always supports all kinds of peaceful activities in space, and rigorously follows the principles and spirit of the declaration of international cooperation in peaceful uses of outer space," said Song.

The home grown space program has reached a substantial scale and level since its beginning thirty years ago. According to Luan Enjie, Director of China National Space Administration (CNSA) who reviewed China's space achievement in his speech, since the launch of the first artificial satellite Dongfanghong-1 in April 1970, China has successfully launched 15 types of rockets and 46 domestically-built satellites, with a success rate of over 90 percent.

Among the different types of satellites China has built, the reentry technologies of recoverable satellites are at a world leading level. Satellites in telecommunications, meteorology, resource, and science areas have gradually developed into their own series.

These satellites help develop a wide range of applications. With launches of resource satellites, several remote sensing organizations were established. Data collected from resource and meteorological satellites is used in forecasting weather, especially potentially disasterous weather, surveying land and exploring resources.

Using various communications satellites, China now has a public satellite communication network which helps develop the mobile communications market. This year the number of mobile telephone users tops 50 million in China, ranking second in the world.

Communication satellites have also created electronic finance. Movement of capital shrank from the initial duration of many days to hours and even minutes. The stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen, which borders north of Hong Kong, employ a satellite transaction system. Not only is each stock transaction more secured, investors also receive protection from an "open and fair" system.

In space science studies, basic theoretical research is complemented with a system of rockets, balloons and satellites for space science experimentation and exploration. Various space missions have obtained valuable information on microgravity fluid physics, space biology and microbiology, and space environment and its effects.

China has also developed a series of 12 different Changzheng ("Long March") launchers. In the 62 launches, thirty foreign satellites were launched successfully. The crowning moment was the successful maiden launch of the manned spacecraft Shenzhou-1 last November.

Vice-Chairman of the China Association for Science and Technology Zhuang Fenggan spoke of increasing launches of international satellites and cooperative research. He said that the launchers CZ-2C/SD, CZ-2E with strap-on boosters, CZ-3 and CZ-3B had gained a foothold in the international launch service market. These launch vehicles have delivered more than 20 foreign satellites to orbit, including clients from U.S., Australia, Sweden and Pakistan.

Zhuang said that China had carried out cooperative research on application satellites with other nations on many occasions. During research and development of the medium-capacity comsat Dongfanghong-3, China had many useful exchanges with Germany, France, U.S., Italy and Japan.

The more well-known example of international satellite research cooperation is the China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite (CBERS-1), which is called Ziyuan-1 (ZY-1) in China ("Ziyuan" means resource). The satellite was launched a year ago in October. Currently the Chinese space industry employs more than 200,000 people, of which more than 50,000 are scientists and engineers. This year the estimated increase in value in the space industry approaches $10 billion (10,000 million) renmibi (US $1.2 billion).

Luan said, "China's space business went from nothing to small then enlarged to the existing substantial scale and level. It has a complete system of research, design, prototyping, building and testing, and fully equipped with satellite launching centres and a satellite control network capable of handling launches of different kinds of satellites.

"The space industry has established a nationwide research production assistance network and quality assurance system, with system engineering decision-making capability and management experience, and a team of intelligent, hardworking and technically skillful scientists and technicians."

Through business development in the space industry, Luan said that China sustained its economic and social progress, improved the overall level of science and technology, increased the strength of national defense, and raised the status of the country internationally. Community
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