The opening of China’s commercial space center collides with an explosive rocket accident

“The plan is to expand the launch site with additional launch platforms, and the goal is to provide domestic and international rocket and satellite launch services, thereby accelerating the development of China’s commercial space technology,” he said.

Construction of the facility began in July 2022 with key infrastructure – including fueling facilities, power substations, rocket assembly buildings and dual launch pads – completed in just 726 days.

State news agency Xinhua reported on Sunday that HICAL is working with rocket developers to conduct experiments related to vertical landings and recovery of missiles from the sea.

The latest blue book, issued annually by the main space contractor China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, detailed 36 commercial rocket launches in 2023, accounting for 39 percent of the country’s total.

China’s commercial space market has grown rapidly since 2015, with an estimated annual growth rate of more than 20 percent from 2017 to 2024, and is expected to reach 2.34 trillion yuan ($326 billion) this year, according to iiMedia Research.

Song Zhengyu, a senior rocket scientist at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said in a paper published last year by the Chinese Journal of Astronautics that the race to build a giant constellation of satellites “is driving China’s space industry in a new era”.

But experts warned that the accident of Space Pioneer at a facility in Gongyi County, Henan Province, on Sunday could stifle China’s booming rocket industry, leading to greater caution by operators and more regulatory oversight.

The Tianlong-3 rocket – similar in design and performance to SpaceX’s Falcon 9 – unexpectedly exploded during a static fire test before crashing and bursting into flames in the hills 1.5 km (just under a mile) southwest of the test pad.

Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology, blamed a “structural failure in the connection between the rocket body and the test platform”. There were no victims.

Although it was a relatively isolated case, industry insiders believe the incident will prompt private rocket companies to be more cautious, while regulators will also increase oversight of launch approvals.

A veteran space sector observer, who asked not to be named, said failures are common, but many accidents occur in deep areas and do not cause unrest. However, Sunday’s incident was relatively close to a densely populated area and “fortunately caused no casualties”.

Still, the accident was troubling and is likely to prompt authorities to insist that commercial rocket companies undergo a safety review in the near term, along with stricter regulation of future launches, he said.