Little Bit of Everything, Plus Militarization of GuoWang?
Wrapping up the first third of 2025.
Happy day-late Star Wars day all, China’s space sector has continued its usual progress with activity everywhere at the end of April. With the May Day holidays set to end today, now is a good time to wrap up the first third of 2025.
Taiwan claims militarization of GuoWang
The Democratic Progressive Party, ruling party of the Republic of China, currently only in Taiwan Province, claimed on April 16th that China has utilized the GuoWang constellation for missile systems targeting. At the time of the claim, GuoWang had nineteen satellites in space. The full claim, in the NATO-funded think tank the Atlantic Council, is as follows:
“Intelligence provided to Taiwan by an undisclosed allied country indicated that these [China Coast Guard] vessels were validating functionalities of China’s Guo Wang, or “state network,” satellite constellation. Guo Wang designates targets for DF-21/DF-26 ballistic missiles supporting future PLA rocket force strikes against both Taiwan and US allied forces operating in the Western Pacific. The vessels only activated their automatic identification system and identified as belonging to the China Coast Guard after they passed the Taiwan Coast Guard’s TCG Nantou and came perilously close to Taiwan’s territorial waters.”
The above paragraph is all that was put forward to substantiate the claim.
Some individuals online have claimed that the militarization of GuoWang is official policy. This stems from a misinterpretation of a magazine article, which covered that all mega-constellation efforts, like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper, can be used for military duties. This has been done at scale by the U.S. with the help of SpaceX, with Amazon interested in providing a similar service.
Kinetica-2 transporter-erector tested with mockup
CAS Space shared on April 29th that it had conducted a series of tests with Kinetica-2’s transporter-erector with a mechanical mockup of the launch vehicle.
For the tests, the mockup of Kinetica-2 was placed on the transporter-erector horizontally, then moved upright to vertical by a series of pistons and mechanical systems. During the transition from horizontal to vertical, the mockup was secured at the base of the two other first-stage cores and the top of the second-stage. Additional support was provided along parts of the central first-stage core and second-stage.
According to CAS Space, the tests verified integration systems between the rocket and transporter-erector, as well as for support systems throughout ground-side air and propellant plumbing. The test also provided practice for teams during future launch preparations.
Ahead of the testing of various systems, a short rehearsal of moving the Kinetica-2 launch vehicle from an integration facility to a launch pad was conducted with the vehicle onboard the transporter-erector, with a truck pulling the combination while also hosting payload support equipment such as air conditioning and electrical power.
China, Malaysia to explore spaceport development
Veteran reporter of China's space efforts, Chen Lan (陈蓝), reported on April 28th, citing the New Starit Times, that Malaysia is exploring the possibility of developing its own spaceport. This spaceport, called Pahang International Spaceport, would be on the East coast of the Malaysian Peninsula, around three degrees north of the equator.
Possible flight paths from the Pahang spaceport would be Northeast over the Philippines and as far north as Taiwan, while a Southeast trajectory would need to fly north of Indonesia's Java island.
China is expected to support efforts for the establishment of the spaceport, with Malaysian officials on the project set to visit the two Wenchang launch sites to understand spaceport operations, as part of a feasibility study lasting one year. The commercial side of Wenchang is notable for having one "universal" launch pad (Commercial Launch Pad 2), with two more "universal" pads under construction (Commercial Launch Pad 3 and 4). Chinese involvement in the project comes from a cooperation agreement signed between the two nations' leaders in mid-April. Chairman of Malaysia's State Investment, Industries, Science, Technology and Innovation Committee, Datuk Mohamad Nizar Najib, commented on the possible spaceport, saying:
"This is a one-in-a-million proposal. Pahang Invest typically receives proposals for factories or oil palm plantations, but rarely for space ports. If successful, the project could materialise within three to five years." – "On April 15, Pahang State Development Corporation signed a letter of intent with China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC) and Lestari Angkasa Sdn Bhd to establish a strategic collaboration in the space technology sector." – "Next month, Pahang State Development Corporation and Lestari Angkasa will visit Wenchang Space City in Hainan, China, to hold further discussions on the Pahang International Spaceport project."
Section taken from my work for Proxima Reports’ April 2025 monthly newsletter.
Samples from Tiangong handed to researchers
On May 1st, twenty-five scientific experiments from onboard the Tiangong Space Station were handed to researchers, with them totaling around 37.25 kilograms. The experiments, studying life sciences, materials science, and new space technologies, were returned with the Shenzhou-19 crew inside the Shenzhou spacecraft’s return capsule.
According to Xinhua, biological samples from the station were for twenty different areas of study, including bone cells, human stem cells, bronchial epithelial cells, human and animal embryos, protein samples, and fruit flies. Researchers will analyze these samples to explore key questions, such as the cellular mechanisms behind bone loss in space, the impact of microgravity on the growth and maintenance of human stem cells, and the role of space radiation in cancer development.
Further research is set to explore how the space environment affects early mammalian embryonic development and alters protein structure-function relationships in microgravity. Additional experiments involving fruit flies will investigate their adaptation to microgravity conditions.
Material samples, for materials science, were also returned with the Shenzhou-19 crew, including tungsten alloys, high-strength steel, specialized crystals, semiconductor materials, lunar soil reinforcement compounds, and novel lubricants. These materials are expected to improve jet engine components, deep-ultraviolet lithography, lunar construction, large deployable space structures such as flexible solar arrays, and durable space lubricants.
China to employ satellite traffic management system
The South China Morning Post reported on April 27th that the China National Space Administration (CNSA) is developing a satellite traffic management system to deal with the incoming massive boom in spacecraft in low Earth orbit. Citing an interview with Meng Lingjie (孟令杰), Director of the CNSA’s Earth Observation and Data Center, who was quoted as saying:
“Our calculations show that low Earth orbit could get overcrowded with about 100,000 satellites,” — “To keep space sustainable, the CNSA is working on a traffic management system to better organise satellite placement and operations. Without it, overlapping projects and repetitive competition could seriously hurt the industry’s development.” — “First, we need to transfer and apply the rich experience accumulated by national [state-owned] companies over decades – especially in rocket and satellite technology – to the commercial sector, adapting it to the fast-paced needs of commercial space flight,” — “Second, we must meet the demands for rapid and flexible launches, enabling large-scale networking and large-scale operations. Once satellites are in orbit, we must prevent collisions, ensure coordinated services among satellites and maintain safe collaboration with satellites operated by international providers.”
The report went on to say that the CNSA announced that it would set up a Commercial Space Innovation Alliance, working with industry organisations and companies to tackle challenges such as the use of resources, regulatory standards and poor coordination in the commercial space sector, while ensuring that the alliance will allow the commercial space sector to develop safely and quickly.
This endeavour to create a state-supported management system will probably be successful as the GuoWang constellation is managed by a state-owned enterprise, and the Qianfan constellation is supported by the Shanghai government. Both constellations will operate the majority of China’s future satellites, as the two plan to launch over ten thousand spacecraft. Privately-held space enterprises will be encouraged to join, with companies that violate the standards likely swiftly dealt with.
Lasers used for satellite distance measurement
Xinhua reported on April 29th that scientists had achieved a satellite laser ranging method in daytime out to Earth-Moon space, for a claimed first time worldwide.
The Yunnan Observatories, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is said to have successfully captured the laser return signal from the retroreflector of the Tiandu-1 spacecraft, which is around 130,000 kilometers away from the Earth, using the newly upgraded near-infrared lunar laser ranging system of a 1.2-meter telescope. To achieve the return signal, solar background noise had to be suppressed, which posed a technical challenge for the feat.
Two days earlier, the Yunnan Observatories conducted their first Earth-Moon laser ranging test with the 1.2-meter telescope, according to China Daily. That experiment sent and received a laser measurement signal to the DRO-A satellite over a distance of 350,000 kilometers.
Both satellites have small corner-cube reflector mirrors to pick up the lasers and bounce them back to Earth, the spacecraft are passive to the lasers being sent at them. Zhang Wei (张炜), Chief Engineer of the project at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Space Application Center, said the following on the April 27th test:
“This success lays the foundation for centimeter-level accuracy in lunar and deep-space measurements”
In the future, similar technologies will support the implementation and operations of other deep-space exploration missions as well as the China-led International Lunar Research Station.
1.3 billion Yuan in LandSpace shares sold
Country Garden Holdings Company Limited (碧桂园控股有限公司) has sold off 1.305 billion Yuan (around 179.458 million United States Dollars, as of May 5th) in shares of LandSpace, representing 11.063% of the total company. LandSpace is a well-known commercial launch company, flying the Zhuque-2E and preparing to debut the partially reusable Zhuque-3.
The shares were sold between April 7th and 25th in two sales; the first sale was to Qingdao Haifa Venture Capital, and the second was to Qingdao Gold Star Fund. Country Garden Holdings Company Limited is said to have bought its shares in LandSpace around 2019 and 2020 for 930 million Yuan, netting the company around 370 million in profit before tax five years later.