Is the construction of the new Wenchang spaceport a purely commercial project?

That's pretty much how it turned out, although for the new cosmodrome they had to cut down less than a hundred hectares of coconut palms, but they evicted not one, but three villages at once: Xiyuan, Nanpailong and Taishancun. I visited this cosmodrome under construction – it was an interesting experience.

New constructions – new horizons for China's space program

As can be seen in the satellite image from late 2022 (below), one of the new launch pads at the cosmodrome is almost finished, 500 meters from the shore, on the bank of a small river (marked with a red frame). And the second one is being built 600 meters to the east and only 250 meters from the seashore, on the other side of this river parallel to the shore (marked with a rounded orange frame). In the satellite image below, the second launch pad is almost invisible – at that time (in 2022), they were just pouring soil under its site:

It should be noted that this new launch site does not adjoin the “old” Wenchang launch site (and is not administratively related to it); there is at least a kilometer between them (even a little more along the coast) where coconut groves, seafood farms, villages and vegetable gardens are located. The edge of the “old” launch site is slightly further than the upper right corner of the satellite image shown here. In the upper left corner of the image, the four-lane S206 highway runs with a bend – it runs from the city of Wenchang to the northeast, passes the town of Longlou (Longlouzheng – 龙楼镇) near the old launch site, and then goes to the north of the island. It looks like assembly shops and other space enterprises for the new launch site are already being built on the other side of this highway.

In March, while planning a trip to China, I watched a YouTube channel of an American expert on the Chinese space industry under the nickname Dongfang Hour: https://www.youtube.com/@DongfangHour

In one video about the Chinese lunar program, he mentioned a new spaceport, including a video of the launch pads, filmed by someone with a drone. And there were very high service towers visible, which amazed me and I decided to definitely visit this spaceport under construction in May.

A walk along the shore past the “old” cosmodrome to the new launch pads

On May 5, after the launch of the SZ-5 rocket with the Chang'e-6 spacecraft, I walked along the beach along the sea to the new cosmodrome under construction. On the beach, I was again (as in 2019) struck by the amount of trash thrown up by the surf. As before, most of the trash was related to fishing (nets, ropes, floats, fish boxes, various foam plastic), there was some emergency marine equipment (torn life jackets, emergency buoys and smoke bombs), but this time there were more mercury gas-filled lamps (which is very unpleasant) and huge (the size of a head) beautiful incandescent lamps from some spotlights. I could not resist making an abstract installation from two of these lamps:

We had to walk past the old cosmodrome. I appreciated the changes to the outer part of the cosmodrome since 2019: a new, very solid fence made of concrete and vertical metal pipes was built around the Wenchang Cosmodrome. The old fence was simply ridiculous: made of metal posts and chain-link fencing with barbed wire on top. In some places, the old fence had already been washed away by the surf, and in some places, traces of shore reinforcement with logs were visible. The new fence was built inside the old one 5-10 meters further and is therefore less susceptible to being washed away by the surf.

Having walked more than a kilometer along the beach from the corner of the old cosmodrome (there was an army jeep with a patrol parked on the sand), I emerged from the low ground into a huge clearing and froze in amazement.

New Cosmodrome – Big Scale, Unhurried Work

I froze, amazed by the height of the unfinished launch pad and the scale of the construction site; an inappropriate word came to mind:terraforming“, since only one palm tree remained from the jungle (probably kept as a souvenir):

I stood at the very edge of the jungle and began filming the entire view of the cosmodrome as if lost in the sand (sand was poured around the site instead of the cut-down jungle). During the filming, I unsuccessfully stood on a hill with very small ants, from where I had to quickly run when they climbed into my shoes and began to bite quite painfully. Then I made a circular video to clearly show the size of the clearing and the proximity of the launch pad to the sea.

Of course, when I saw the launch pads about a hundred meters high, I thought that they were intended for super-heavy rockets of the lunar program, namely for already designed intermediate super-heavy class rocket SZ-10 or “Long March 10” = Long March 10, painfully reminiscent of tri-body Falcon Heavy. And it wasn't just me who was wrong – judging by what was published in the media and on the Internet, so did others. other.

So in Wikipedia, in a Chinese article about the “old” Wenchang spaceport something was written completely strange specifically about the planned new launch pads (the authors thought that they belong to the old cosmodrome) – sorry for the automatic translation:

Link [2] indicates to the Chinese articlebut there is no word about new launch pads…

And to this day, this article still says something equally strange – sorry again for the translation:

In addition, China's Wenchang Space Launch Center will expand two new launch stations based on the existing two launch stations, which, As expectedwill support launch stations for the Chinese Long March 9 series launch vehicle And new generation manned launch vehicle Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for periodic Chinese manned space launches and even future ones manned lunar landing projects ^[2] .

It is obvious that until the concept/configuration of the super-heavy rocket “Long March 9” or Long March 9, aka SZ-9, is defined, no one will make a launch pad for an undefined rocket.

Backfilling of soil for protection from the sea

Having reached the southern border of the cosmodrome, I photographed the cliff of the coast from the sea, once again making sure that the coast is low and the cosmodrome behind it is also not high and is poorly protected from serious events from the sea (for example, a tsunami). The usual storm activity of the sea washes away local village buildings quite regularly, which is simply visible to everyone:

The new cosmodrome is thoroughly protected from the flooding of the local river and streams by concrete canals and large tunnels along the fence, towards the sea. But the height of the cosmodrome itself above sea level is not great, at the top of this cliff it is 7-8 meters, judging by my altimeter:

It was getting close to midday and the heat in the shade instead of the official +32 or +34 C became completely unbearable, and I was right in the sun. I found several uncut palm trees right on the cliff, among some ruins (probably seafood farms) and went into the shade. Between two palm trees hung a homemade hammock, where I settled for an hour or two, swinging in the hammock, pouring water into myself and singing unforgettable lines: “And we don’t dream of the roar of the cosmodrome…“. It suddenly dawned on me that since arriving at the construction site at around 11 o'clock, I had not only not heard the roar of the cosmodrome, but also no construction activity. And I had not seen any work either on the ground or on the tower of the nearest launch pad. After resting, I began to wander around the area, trying to detect this work activity.

Only after 13:00 did I see a couple of workers walking around, one surveyor with a theodolite, and one excavator working (trucks with stone began to arrive one by one closer to 14:00). In general, it was difficult to call this a shock communist construction site – the number of guards in black that I noticed at the southern fence was several times greater than the number of workers that I saw during my entire stay at the southern border of the cosmodrome.

But I found evidence that the builders are going to increase the height of the shore in front of the cosmodrome by adding soil or stone (construction waste) 3-4 meters above the current value of 7-8 meters above sea level. This is noticeable by the huge black drainage pipes sticking up from the sand to exactly this height (two human heights):

When will the cosmodrome be ready?

The launch pads are surrounded by 4 high openwork towers with cables between them – this is protection from tropical lightning, similar to the protection of the launch pads for the SZ-5 rocket and the SZ-7/8 rockets at the neighboring “old” cosmodrome. Because of the powerful thunderstorms, these lightning protection towers were clearly built in advance, before the completion of the launch vehicle servicing towers.

My feeling was that the readiness of the launch pad closest to the sea at the time of my visit in May was about 60-70% (the tower, in my opinion, had only a frame), and full readiness was supposed to come by the end of 2024. In fact, it turned out that this table for launching solid-fuel rockets and the service tower will remain in the form of a frame.

I thought about the launch pad far from the sea that its readiness was about 95-100% and I guessed right. The second launch pad, as it turned out, is intended for liquid rockets. Judging by this gorgeous official video in Chinese (the drone panoramas are quite spectacular) This blue launch pad with an orange crane on top was ceremoniously handed over 6 months ago, in January…

I started writing this article, but the reality surprised me already by the beginning of July: in the official Chinese media this is the news that came out (100% official) about the complete completion of construction and opening of the new cosmodrome! It was Dubbed in Russian in our media on July 2. It turned out that Both launch pads are ready by July And The cosmodrome has been commissioned!

Although I strongly doubt that the cosmodrome is really completely finished, because I myself saw that the work on filling the soil there is still about six months left. But on the other hand, nothing prevents this from being finished already during the operation of the cosmodrome. Well, the Chinese can be congratulated on the next, fifth cosmodrome.

Of course, the construction of such large spaceports in densely populated areas always means the eviction of entire villages along with their inhabitants, the graves of their ancestors, houses and even religious sites. Walking around the territory of the new spaceport from the western side, I came to a village where I was struck by a huge multi-trunked baobab-type tree, in the hollow of which some kind of sanctuary with offerings from believers was arranged:

How many of these or similar altars have already had to be torn down during construction? And will have to be torn down in the future for new spaceports? Apparently, China's appetite comes with eating (construction), so now is the time to discuss further local space prospects.

Prospects for local spaceports

IN video titled “Is Wenchang becoming China's Cape Canaveral?“ Is Wenchang becoming China's Cape Canaveral? from the same YouTube channel Dongfang Hour official footage of the construction of a new commercial spaceport is provided and the planned number of launches from it is named: 25 per year! And at 570 seconds The video shows the amazing prospects of building launch pads south of the current cosmodrome:

What kind of launch pads will these be? For what rockets? For state super-heavyweights (for the lunar manned program) or for small commercial ones? There are no answers to these questions yet. These are just pictures and dreams for now. I couldn't even identify the two closest launch pads (marked with an orange frame in the picture). They partially resemble the launch pads of the operating cosmodrome, but the access roads to them are different from reality and the extra launch pad (assembly shop) below spoils everything.

Author of the video mentioned at 8:05that in the same place in Wenchang they will probably build launch pads for the super heavyweights SZ-10 (which has already been approved) and SZ-9 (when and if the design of the SZ-9 is finally approved).

These are not official plans yet, but only dreams, but it should be noted that the location for the expansion of the cosmodrome is in fact simply a trump card. It is not for nothing that the author compared this place with the American Cape Canaveral in Florida, where launch pads were simply added along the seashore (from the east).

Here is the same scheme, only the sea is rather from the south-east, which is not critical. If you look at the satellite image of the surrounding cities (taken from the same video at 260 seconds), you can clearly see where, in principle, it is possible to build launch pads without risking dropping the launching rocket into city blocks:

On this map I have marked the southernmost suitable place for launch pads with a question mark, since it is already quite close to the city (and to the commercial port) for super-heavy rockets with thousands of tons of fuel and oxidizer at the start. In this area of ​​the city, luxury hotels and high-rise residential towers come to the shore, which, at a minimum, would lose all their windows from a nearby explosion in this area. But on the other hand, this place is also close to a point convenient for the construction of a deep-water pier. A pier where huge (9-12 meter diameter) parts for the future super-heavy type SZ-9 can be safely unloaded from cargo ships of the Chinese naval “space fleet” onto the shore. And there will be no need to transport them by road from the port through the city and then across the Qinlang Bridge (Qinglan Bridge), as they are doing now with parts of the SZ-5, SZ-7 and SZ-8 missiles. Riding a bus across this bridge in May, I noticed some construction work on the shore to the south of it, but I cannot say for sure that this is the pier they are building.

In the meantime, they are making a business out of tourists around the not yet completely finished new cosmodrome.

Space Flight Theme Park Shopping and Excursion Center

At the northwest corner of the cosmodrome, where its territory almost touches the S206 motorway, a small tourist pavilion has been erected to sell souvenirs and offer excursions – it is marked with a pink frame in this official general view of the cosmodrome from the sea:

Unfortunately, bus tours of the cosmodrome are only available to Chinese citizens, but the trade and the trading floor itself are available to everyone. Between the pavilion and the highway, on concrete foundations, there are scale models of the SZ-8 rocket (planned to be launched at the new cosmodrome) and SZ-5 (has nothing to do with the new cosmodrome):

In front of the pavilion there is a small garden with funny children's sculptures on the theme of cosmonautics:

China's space program has serious plans for asteroids and this sculpture transparently hints at these plans (or maybe it’s a hint about the Moon?)

The walls of the pavilion's waiting room are lined with photos, diagrams, and maps of the major milestones, achievements, and personalities of Chinese space exploration. On one wall of the sales area, I saw clear documentation that this was a construction site with two new launch pads for SZ-10 rockets. is not considered part of the “old” cosmodrome Wenchang (Chinese: 文昌航天发射场), and is a separate new spaceport (in Chinese: 文昌商业航天发射)—i.e. it is the 5th spaceport in China:

It is written about the new cosmodrome in Wenchang that its construction began in 2022.

What can be understood from the poster about China's 5 spaceports?

That the “old” Wenchang spaceport has a simple name: “Wenchang Space Port” – this is what is written above his photo in Chinese:

It is written about the already “old” Wenchang cosmodrome (only 10 years old) that it was built from 2009 to 2014 (the first launch took place only in 2016, but only because of problems with the rocket). If the old cosmodrome was built in 5-6 years, now, having the experience of its construction, it is quite possible to cope with the new cosmodrome in 2-3 years: from 2022 to 2024/25.

It is obvious that the new cosmodrome under construction does not belong to the old one and has a different, strange name:

The Chinese title is written on top of the photo:

«Hainan International Space Center” – what does it mean?

What's so special about it? international is it planned?

The text below slightly clarifies the situation regarding commercial launches, but not regarding international ones:

«In 2022, the foundation stone was laid in Wenchang City, Hainan Province China's first commercial spaceportwhich will address the relative shortage of China's commercial space resources and promote high-quality development of the industry. Its construction and operation are of critical importance. for commercial development of space. The spaceport system is market-oriented, the first site is intended only for SZ-8 family rockets, the second is for several rocket companies of different composition and can meet the demand for launching more than 10 rocket models. Exploring the vast universe and developing …»

What's interesting is that in front of the excursion and shopping center, under the embankment next to the highway, there is a clearly discarded road sign for “HAINAN Commercial AEROSPACE Launch Site”:

Why didn't they like this name? Because it was too much AERO in the word AEROSPACE? Or by not specifying International? Why was it necessary to throw this new sign and the pole into the ditch? (In general, I have seen enough of such waste in China).

Wikipedia has published an article in English, where this new, 5th Chinese spaceport, is also called “commercial”, but in a slightly different way: Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site (not Hainan, but Wenchang). It says:

On July 6, 2022, a groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Sitewhich is China's first commercial space launch complex, and which is fully funded, constructed and operated by HICAL.[3]

Company HICAL is listed as the sole owner, builder and operator of the spaceport. The operator of the neighboring “old” Wenchang spaceport, by the way, is a completely state corporation CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation). It seems that the new spaceport is the first truly private spaceport in China. But the devil is in the details: let's open the Wikipedia page about this company HICAL: Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co., Ltd. and what will we see there?

HICALis a Chinese state-owned company… – only state-owned companies are honestly listed among the company's owners: Hainan Provincial Government, China Satellite Network Group, CASIC and the same one CASC! The creation of a purely commercial spaceport without any commercial financing, at the expense of the state – this is also very typical for China.

I didn't see anything “commercial” (except for the excursion center and the shopping pavilion) in this huge cosmodrome in May, and I had my doubts about the claims that some small commercial rockets would be launched from the huge launch pads. In the state launch vehicles SZ-8 And SZ-12 (the first launch is planned for August 2024) I fully believe in liquid rockets launched from a launch pad far from the sea, but here are the commercial rockets of different diameters and heights indicated in the future plans of the cosmodrome: Tianlong-3 , Pallas-1 , Nebula-1 , Gravity-2 , Kinetica 2 – how strange it all is… Will they all definitely fit these two launch pads??? There is also information that Rocket launches are planned from the new cosmodrome “XLV“.

Conclusion:

The visit to the cosmodrome under construction left me with very pleasant memories; it was much more successful for me than my observation of the launch of the SZ-5 rocket with the Chang'e-6 spacecraft to the Moon two days earlier…

The strangest thing about this whole story with the new cosmodrome is that I really naively thought that I was seeing the construction of launch pads at the new cosmodrome specifically for a manned lunar mission. super-heavy launch vehicle SZ-10 “Great March 10” (a 90-meter-high rocket with a total mass of up to 2,190 tons, with a payload to a low reference orbit of up to 70 tons and up to 27 tons on a trajectory to the Moon).

It turned out that this was a commercial spaceport with a wide range of applications…

This raises the inevitable question: where then does the Chinese government intend to launch the new SZ-10 launch vehicle?

Chinese astronauts should land on the moon by 2030using two launches of two SZ-10 rockets – which requires TWO ready-made SZ-10 launch pads. The SZ-10 launch vehicle is scheduled to launch for testing for the first time in 2027, according to In this article representative of the China Research Institute of Rocket Technology (English China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology – CALT) Zhao Xinguo. For this, the rocket NEEDS at least one launch pad from which it can take off for a test flight.

There is not much time left until 2027 – 3 years at best…

IN this April article it is written that the deputy director of CMSEO himself allegedlyCMSA (China Manned Space Agency) Lin Xiqian (Lin Xiqiang) said:

“…Various rocket engines are undergoing hotfire testsand the Wenchang crewed lunar exploration launch site is under construction,”

“Various rocket engines undergo hot testing and Wenchang launch complex for manned lunar exploration under construction“

But I didn't see anything like that in Wenchang, and satellite images don't show anything as big “under construction” as the new commercial spaceport in that region.

When and where will the new launch pads for the lunar program be built, for the intermediate super-heavy launch vehicle SZ-10 “Long March 10”?

I don’t have an answer, but the intrigue is obvious.