China to launch 5 satellites for foreigners
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China Daily, December 21, 2011
China is set to make five commercial launches for foreign customers next year, a boost to realizing the goal of re-launching itself in the global aerospace industry, a senior industry official said.
The five launches are a piggy-back launch of two Luxembourg micro-satellites for sea monitoring in January, launches of two communications satellites for Hong Kong-based APT Satellite Co Ltd, and launches of two remote sensing satellites, said Yin Liming, president of China Great Wall Industry Corporation, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
As there are usually 20 to 30 commercial launches in the world each year, most carried out by Russia and European countries, the five launches next year mean that China can take at least a 15-percent share of this market next year, Yin said on the eve of the third and last commercial launch in 2011 of a China-developed communications satellite for Nigeria.
The other two launches in 2011 were the launch of a China-developed communications satellite for Pakistan in August, and the launch of a communications satellite built by France-based Thales Alenia Space for Eutelsat Communication, a leading European satellite operator, in October.
"With this momentum, we are confident of achieving the goal we set for the 2011-2015 period, which is to take a 15-percent share of the commercial launch market and a 10-percent share of the satellite export market by 2015," he said.
Next year also features the first export of a remote sensing satellite as a China-made remote sensing satellite will be launched for Venezuela, according to a contract signed this year. In the past, all satellites that China has exported are communications satellites.
In addition, the China Great Wall Industry Corporation, the main commercial platform for China's space industry, also inked contracts in the past 12 months on in-orbit delivery of a Bolivia communications satellite and a Belarus communications satellite, launch service for a Turkmenistan communications satellite and the piggy-back launch of the Luxembourg micro-satellites.
Through its contract with Belarus, China also achieved a breakthrough in serving European countries with a communications satellite for the first time, he added.
The contracts were achieved in the face of trade barriers and setbacks.
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