Jielong-3 rocket to launch in 2022, QS-T raises 100M¥ in A round of funding, discussion of the Beijing space ecosystem - China Space News Roundup Ep 23
Hello and welcome to another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup! Without further ado, the news update from the week of 1 - 7 March.
1) Qiansheng Exploration (QS-T) Announces RMB 100M+ Series A Round
Chinese satellite manufacturer Qiansheng Exploration announced a Series A funding round of more than RMB 100 million on Friday 5 March, with the funding expected to go towards strengthening the company’s satellite manufacturing and geospatial information services capabilities. The round was led by the Fuzhou (Jiangxi) High-Tech Emerging Industry Development Fund, which is apparently a part of the Fuzhou National High-Tech Industrial Zone. Qiansheng Exploration had previously had pretty close relations with the Zhongguancun area of Beijing. While we do not necessarily have reason to believe this has changed, the funding round being led by Fuzhou likely implies that Qiansheng will relocate some activity to the city as a form of economic development.
2) Jielong-3 to make its maiden launch in 2022
CALT’s commercial subsidiary China Rocket announced on March 3rd that the Jielong-3 small lift solid-fueled launch vehicle would make its maiden launch in 2022. Jielong-3 is the 3rd and heaviest rocket of the Jielong rocket series, putting 1.5 tons into LEO. The other two are two lighter lift launch vehicles capable of putting 200 kg and 500 kg into LEO, with Jielong-1 having succeeded its first orbital launch in August 2019.
(AFAIK) the Jielong 2, 3 rockets were announced at a China Rocket event in October 2019; back in the days the company had already set a foot in the realm of small lift commercial launch vehicles with the Jielong-1, and the follow-up Jielong series showed CALT/China Rocket’s ambition to consolidate its presence in launch and compete with the likes of Expace as well as other commercial launch companies. The payload capacities indeed compete directly with a lot of the commercial launch companies discussed in previous episodes.
3) An interesting piece by the Beijing Daily on Beijing’s commercial space ecosystem
The Beijing Daily published an interesting article on March 1st on the capital’s commercial space ecosystem.
The article discussed how Beijing seems to have an interesting geographic divide between the North (attracting satellite manufacturing startups) and the South (focused on rockets). This has given the capital the nickname in Chinese of “南箭北星”, as we may have mentioned in previous episodes. And interestingly, according to the Beijing Daily article, this is actually due to the fact that CALT has a strong presence in the south and with who Chinese startups collaborate; and similarly in the Northern suburbs is CAST facilities, of significant interest for satellite manufacturing companies.
Another noteworthy point of the article is the support that the Beijing municipal government provides its commercial space ecosystem, and this can be generalized to many other provincial capitals. This can be in terms of infrastructure/facilities, with science & tech parks putting preferential policies for tech-heavy companies. The article also mentions “building commercial aerospace industry bases” in Beijing’s most southern district Daxing.
Last but not least, the support is also financial. The article mentions employing municipal-level industry funds to support commercial space companies, and financial mechanisms to limit insurance premiums for launch.
This has been another episode of the Dongfang Hour China Aero/Space News Roundup. Thanks for watching!
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