Hainan and Sichuan account for 45% of all Chinese launches
HAIKOU /China/, December 25. /tass/. Hainan, together with the southwestern province of Sichuan, brought the total number of launches of the Changzheng series launch vehicles to 180 times in 2021 (out of a total of 402 launches carried out in China). This was reported by the Chinese Aerospace Research Academy (CAECC).
As specified on the organization's page on the WeChat social network, the Wenchang cosmodrome on the northeastern coast of the island, together with the Xichang Space Flight Center (Sichuan), which oversees it, hold the first place among the four sites in China by this indicator and bypass even the oldest space harbor of the country Jiuquan (north of China), which has provided the launch of vehicles into orbit 124 times since 1958. Thus, Hainan and Sichuan account for 45% of all launches in China.
The last of them, as the Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) informed earlier, took place on December 23: at 18:12 local time (13:12 Moscow time). The Hainan cosmodrome, using the CZ-7A rocket, sent two experimental Shiyan-12 satellites into near-Earth space.
According to CASC, the CZ-7A is the largest (60.7 meters in length) rocket of Chinese design. In the history of the country, this was its third launch. In addition, Wenchang is so far the only place in China where technical conditions allow it to be put into orbit. Other Chinese carriers of the new generation, which only Hainan is capable of launching, are the commercial CZ-8, as well as the CZ-5 and CZ-5B - the most massive (870 and 837.5 tons, respectively) of all analogues developed in China.
According to the observers of the newspaper "Hainan Zhibao", the province has successfully completed the stage of its space program for the current year and is preparing for new breakthroughs in space exploration in the coming 2022.
China is actively exploring space, developing meteorological, telecommunications and navigation satellites, as well as technologies for the exploration of the Moon. Chinese scientists are simultaneously carrying out a project to explore asteroids and Mars. A national space station is being built in orbit, which according to the plan should be operational in 2022. According to the CASC statement, this year China is preparing to set a new national record for the number of launches.
