Shan Zhongde Becomes New Head of CNSA
The China National Space Administration has a new 'top boss' ahead of many milestone missions.
The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of the People’s Republic of China (中华人民共和国人力资源和社会保障部) announced on January 10th that Shan Zhongde (单忠德) was appointed as the new Administrator of the China National Space Administration (中国国家航天局), often shortened to CNSA. This announcement comes a few days after CNSA updated its website with Shan as the Administrator, and almost two weeks after he was made Party Secretary of SASTIND.
The announcement also named him as the Director of the National Atomic Energy Agency (国家原子能机构), and Director of the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (国家国防科技工业局), commonly shorted to SASTIND. These are two other positions typically held by SASTIND’s Party Secretary alongside being the head of CNSA.
To date, Shan is the ninth Administrator of CNSA since its creation in April 1993. Previous Administrators have been, Liu Jiyuan (刘纪原) from April 1993 to April 1998, Luan Enjie (段恩杰) from April 1998 to 2004, Sun Laiyan (孙来燕) from 2004 to July 2010, Chen Qiufa (陈求发) from July 2010 to March 2013, Ma Xingrui (马兴瑞) from March 2013 to December 2013, Xu Dazhe (徐大哲) from December 2013 to May 2017, Tang Dengjie (唐登杰) from May 2017 to May 2018, and lastly Zhang Kejian (张克俭) from May 2018 to years end 2024.
With the appointment of Shan Zhongde and the removal of Zhang Kejian, some questions and suspicions about where Zhang has gone have been appearing. In November 2024 The Diplomat, a Washington D.C.-based online news magazine, floated the theory that Zhang was under investigation for corruption following him not being present for a meeting. However, The Diplomat does admit later in its article that there is no information to support its theory.
Another theory is that Zhang has been promoted elsewhere, such as the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (中国人民政治协商会议), often shorted to CPPCC, due to decades of political experience. The 14th National Committee of the CPPCC currently has one vacancy, in its three-hundred-person Standing Committee, and is running from March 2023 to March 2028. If Zhang is now a part of the CPPCC, he will likely appear at or ahead of its next meeting.
It is also worth considering that previous heads of CNSA have typically been promoted elsewhere with Tang Dengjie being made Governor of Fujian Province, Xu Dazhe being promoted to Governor of Hunan Province, Ma Xingrui being made Party Secretary of the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, and Chen Qiufa promoted to Chairman of the Hunan Provincial Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
One final theory is that Zhang has retired from politics due to his age and various senior positions held throughout his career. Zhang Kejian was born in July 1963 making him sixty-three, which is China’s new retirement age in 2025. Prior to the raising of the retirement age, Zhang had been three years over the previous one.
Who is Shan Zhongde?
Shan Zhongde (单忠德), born in January 1970, is from Gaomi (高密市), in Shandong Province (山东). According to his AI for Good biography, Shan received a doctorate degree in mechanical engineering from Tsinghua University in 2002. Following this he became a visiting scholar at Cardiff University in Wales, United Kingdom, and a postdoctoral fellow at Tsinghua University between 2003 and 2006. He was elected as an Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE) in 2019. He previously served as the Director of Zhengzhou Research Institute of Mechanical Engineering, the Deputy General Manager of China Academy of Machinery Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd. (CAM), the President and Secretary of the CPC Party Committee of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics (NUAA) successively. He is currently the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of the People’s Republic of China.
Based on his ResearchGate publications, Shan Zhongde's research before his appointment focused on developing sustainable and intelligent manufacturing systems, emphasizing energy efficiency, automation, and green technologies. His work could help advance industrial capabilities, particularly in the fields of aerospace manufacturing and precision engineering.
Rather awkwardly for China-U.S. relations Shan was sanctioned by the first Trump administration in May 2020.
Milestones and challenges ahead
Due to how early into Shan Zhongde’s administratorship we are it is hard to tell how long he will spend at CNSA, with the average tenure being just short of four years. But let’s assume that Shan will spend as long at CNSA as Zhang Kejian, Luan Enjie, and Sun Laiyan did, which is six years. This would have Shan step down in around 2031 having overseen several milestone missions, so what are these missions and challenges?
Milestone missions
Up first will be the Tianwen-2 asteroid sample return mission in May 2025. Tianwen-2 will attempt to collect approximately 100 grams of samples from asteroid 469219 Kamoʻoalewa via anchor-and-attach and touch-and-go methods. Samples from the asteroid are expected to be back around 2027. Much of the work for Tianwen-2 is already done with the launch quickly approaching.
Next year, 2026, the Chang’e 7 mission will head to Shackleton Crater on the Moon’s south pole to conduct a planned eight years of science. Scientific research will be conducted aboard the lander, the orbiter that brought it into lunar orbit, a small robotic rover, and a small hopping probe to explore permanently shadowed craters. Work on the mission is well underway but a few international payloads are still being confirmed.
Completing the first four launches for the construction of the Tiangong Space Station will be for the Xuntian (巡天) space telescope in late 2026. Xuntian is a 2-meter aperture space telescope for high-resolution large-area multiband imaging, slitless spectroscopy surveys, and for precise cosmology. This mission has been delayed for several years but will boast incredible capabilities once in orbit.
In 2028 the Chang’e 8 mission will further explore the south pole of the Moon. Like the previous mission, various science experiments will be conducted with the orbiter, lander, and robotic rover, along with a small robot for developing technologies for long-term exploration. This mission will also be the first part of the International Lunar Research Station’s construction phase with work underway as well as deciding on international payloads.
For another potential world’s first mission for China, the Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission is expected to launch around 2028 on two Long March 5 rockets with a return of the samples around 2031. Due to the inherent advantages of planning the mission upfront and using a somewhat simpler mission structure China’s Mars samples will return at least four years ahead of NASA’s. With the samples back sooner China can begin gathering interest from researchers and providing materials, elevating the country’s position in the planetary science community.
For China’s first mission to the outer planets, the Tianwen-4 mission will launch toward Jupiter in late 2029, for arrival around 2035. Tianwen-4 will spend three years conducting science around the gas giant before moving on to its moon Callisto. Another probe for a Uranus flyby will also be released, passing the planet in 2045. Tianwen-4 is still in the early stages of development along with finding international partners for possible instrument contributions.
Before 2030 China is planning to conduct its first crewed mission to the lunar surface, likely occurring in late 2028 but unconfirmed. Following the first few missions, at least two missions per year are planned, with development well underway on the necessary spacecraft and launch vehicles. Crewed missions will also head to the China-led International Lunar Research Station, to conduct long-term science with other nations on the Moon.
Potential challenges
While overseeing these missions Shan Zhongde will also have to manage a few challenges. The first of these is gathering more partners for the already mentioned International Lunar Research Station, or ILRS for short. The ILRS currently has thirteen national members, including China, and dozens of sub-national institutions and companies as partners. More partners will help bolster China’s position as a major collaborator in space after the demise of the U.S.-led International Space Station.
Speaking of the demise of the International Space Station, once the decades-old space laboratory is no longer in orbit, the Tiangong Space Station may become the preeminent destination to do science in low Earth orbit. Of course, this is dependent on various for-profit U.S. commercial space stations being slow to launch or under financial difficulty, which is fairly likely due to it being an entirely new endeavor for private capital. The Tiangong Space Station may also become a favored destination for international astronauts, thanks to the in-development Mengzhou capsule’s seven possible seats, future expansion with new modules, and China’s decades of human spaceflight experience.