'Space Silk Road' to back China's Belt and Road plan

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2015-04-02

The new Beidou satellite is launched into space carried by
a Long March 3 orbital carrier rocket, March 30. (Photo/CNS)

At 9 pm on March 30, China successfully launched the Long March 3 (LM-3) orbital carrier rocket, carrying the first of China's new generation Beidou satellites, set to transform the Beidou satellite navigation system from a regional to an international guidance system, according to the Chinese-language website of China's Global Times.

On March 31 the China Satellite Global Services Alliance (CSGSA) held a press conference in Beijing, announcing the latest stage in the construction of a "Space-based New Silk Road." They stated that it will enable the smooth development of China's "Belt and Road" plan–comprising the New Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road.

Space-based Silk Road

The deputy director general of the alliance in charge of daily operations, Wang Zhongguo, said at the press conference that at the end of 2014, the alliance decided to focus its strategy on the Belt and Road project and international expansion. Currently the alliance has established trial satellite receiving bases in Xinjiang, Ningxia, Hainan and Fujian, all important locations for the Belt and Road projects. After this it will move westwards over land, through Central Asia and Southwest Asia to Europe and over sea through the South China Sea, the Pacific, the Indian Ocean to Africa and South and Central America, establishing receiving stations all over the world.

The alliance is said to be an open interdisciplinary non-profit NGO, with members including the management of companies throughout the astronautical industry chain, research institute staff and academics.

Wang said that the alliance has entered into talks with a range of countries, including Malta, Malaysia, India, the US and Norway regarding establishing satellite receiving facilities within their borders. Satellite cooperation with Malta has already been incorporated into the country's trade treaty with China. He said that as well as the construction of new receiving stations, already established receiving stations can be used too. The Chinese University of Hong Kong previously built a ground receiving station, which will be able to receive signals from Chinese satellites, which it can then use to provide services to the public.

If the Space-based Silk Road is to be realized then the building of related infrastructure must be prioritized as a central project, he said. This can be done by improving the communications infrastructure within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SHO). Joint funds can be used to establish a low orbit data acquisition satellite system, improve the coverage of navigation along the Belt and Road routes and to build a remote sensing Virtual Constellation. Ground infrastructure must also be jointly constructed, including facilities for the receiving, processing and distribution of satellite information.

Satellites

Wang said that China currently has 120 satellites in orbit and that its communications satellites can provide coverage for 98% of the world's inhabited areas; China's remote-sensing satellites can also provide global coverage. The recently launched new generation Beidou navigation satellite brings the number of Beidou satellites to 17. The Beidou system is expected to have global coverage by 2020.

The Space-based Silk Road will comprise several dozen high capacity communications satellites, offering broad coverage, and these will be used as a supplement for data acquisition satellite systems. They are also expected to improve navigation services along the Belt and Road routes. The remote-sensing satellites will also engage in long term observation of land masses, the oceans, the atmosphere and environmental changes.

When asked if the Gaofen series of satellites would be incorporated into the Space-based Silk Road satellite system, Wang said that this would depend on the demands of the owners, as most were commissioned by businesses.

Wu Jiyun, vice director of the Satellite Technology Application Working Committee of the Chinese Society of Astronautics, says that currently Beidou is second only to the US GPS navigation system. He added that Beidou's accuracy is already a match for GPS in the Pacific and that China intends for it to match GPS's capabilities worldwide by 2020.

Belt and Road

The Space-based Silk Road will enable the Chinese government to continue observing different regions of the world even in the event of a natural disaster or other unforeseen circumstances. The system is also likely to help Chinese businesses expand internationally and it can act as a scout for infrastructure construction along the land and sea routes.