China Will Spend 47.47 billion U.S. dollars For Space Expansion

 

China now has its fifth space station outside of its territory with the acquisition of a space tracking station in Dongara, about 350 kilometers north of Perth in western Australia.

This development is part of China's plan to accelerate expansion in its space industry in the next 10 years, according to a report from Shanghai Security News.

The newspaper added that the country will spend

around 300 billion yuan (47.47 billion U.S. dollars) for the space program as it plans to build lab modules, a space station and launch 10 to 20 spaceships over the next 10 years.

Wu Ping, spokesman of China's manned space program also reportedly said that there are 20 or so space voyages being planned in China, thus, the spaceflights will shore up demand for spacecraft manufacturing and launch services.

Aside from the Dongara station, which was used during the launch of Shenzhou VIII mission last week, there four others are in Pakistan, Chile, Kenya and Namibia.

However, it is the first facility in a close US ally. The U. S. and the European Space Agency both have tracking facilities in Australia which were establish a long way back.

The Dongara facility was built by the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and according to the newspaper South Morning China, this has been leased to Beijing.

A senior SSC official in China reportedly said Chinese space authorities rented the site, including buildings and equipment with the approval of Australian authorities. There has been no word yet from the Australian defense ministry on the matter.

In its website, the SSC said the location of the Dongara Satellite Station was "particularly advantageous for accessing low-inclination orbiting satellites" and that it is frequently used for geostationary orbit raising operations, for first acquisition of launch vehicle and spacecraft telemetry at orbit insertion/deployment.

With China being seen as a strong contender for space supremacy, the latest acquisition is seen as a major step towards this end. Thus, many are awaiting Washington's reaction to this latest development.