The Most Funky Space Projects in China

Good day and welcome to episode 5 of the Dongfang Hour, the China Aerospace and Tech Podcast. Today we are discussing China’s funky space industry. Before going into our list of funky projects, we will have two definitions of “funky” in this episode:
- Plain old funky. This refers to projects that are funky in every sense of the word--funky technologies, business models, etc. This includes space planes, solar harvesting, and electromagnetic rockets.
- Funky in an “only in China” way. This refers to companies buying orbital slots as a way of moving money out of China, or online video giants that can justify buying their own EO satellite.

The episode timestamps can be found below:
00:00 - Introduction on the idea of "funky"
01:53 - Chinese spaceplanes
10:50 - CASIC's Five Clouds project
20:26 - Guoyao Tech & electromagnetic launch
25:54 - Funky turn of events for some satcom companies
37:49 - Linksure and the free broadband constellation
41:39 - Commsat, space selfies, and beaming down morse code to Earth
45:30 - Streaming video live from space with Bilibili
52:22 - Why have street lights in Chengdu when you can have an artificial moon?
55:52 - CAST, Chongqing, and harvesting solar energy from space

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Without further ado, the links to our list of funky projects:

1) Space planes
Website of Space Transportation, one of the few commercial space companies in China who’s main area of focus is space planes.
http://www.spacetransportation.com.cn/
Article (in French) on CASIC’s Tengyun, and specifically the Turbine Based Combined Cycle (TBCC) engine configuration.
http://www.eastpendulum.com/casic-avance-avion-spatial-teng-yun

2) CASIC’s Five Clouds
Article on CASIC’s Five Clouds project, as shown at the 2018 China Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan.
http://www.spacetransportation.com.cn/
Article on CASIC’s Five Clouds project from Baidu Baike (sort of Chinese version of Wikipedia).
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BA%94%E4%BA%91%E4%B8%80%E8%BD%A6/23219026?fr=aladdin

3) Electromagnetic launch
September 2020 press release from Guangzhou Guoyao Tech about electromagnetic launch ambitions.
https://pressat.co.uk/releases/chinese-startup-wants-to-replace-chemical-rocket-with-electromagnetic-power-to-launch-satellites-4b369b5124579d9fc2449263baf39e95/
Separately, Guoyao Tech’s website can be found here.
http://www.cneml.com/jscp
Article about CASIC’s “Yuzhou” technology.
http://www.chinadefenseobservation.com/?p=4432

4) Satcom
Article about Chinese company Tatwah Smartech trading an orbital slot for a 49% stake in a Sri Lankan satellite operator.
https://www.reuters.com/article/brief-tatwah-smartech-says-unit-to-acqui-idUSL3N1PA3PF
Article about Tatwah’s adventures in Sri Lanka
http://www.ft.lk/Front-Page/Young-Chinese-billionaire-invests-in-SupremeSAT/44-647367
Partial list of satellites sold by CGWIC to developing countries.
http://www.cgwic.com/CommunicationsSatellite/customer.html

5) Commsat/LadyBeetle Selfie Satellite
Article about the LadyBeetle satellite.
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/201812/07/WS5c0a17c0a310eff30328fc5f.html
Article interviewing the Commsat CEO about total cost of the LadyBeetle program, and the program’s results.
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1627253125136949927&wfr=spider&for=pc

6) Bilibili Satellite
Bilibili space channel announcement
https://www.caixinglobal.com/2020-06-03/bilibili-to-launch-satellite-for-science-education-content-101562319.html
Bilibili satellite successfully reaches orbit
https://cntechpost.com/2020/09/15/bilibili-announces-successful-launch-of-its-video-satellite-first-of-its-kind-for-a-chinese-internet-company/

7) Artificial Moon/Chengdu Death Star
Video with information on the program
https://baike.baidu.com/item/%E4%BA%BA%E9%80%A0%E6%9C%88%E4%BA%AE/22945855
Article debunking the project as an “academic study” rather than a real business
https://new.qq.com/rain/a/20200812A0LDKT00

8) Chongqing as future solar harvesting center of China
Article outlining a plan to make Chongqing the center of China’s solar power harvesting industry by 2030.
https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1667767943583610094
Technical references about the feasibility of such solar-based solar power harvesting.
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/wireless-power-transmission-of-solar-energy-from-space/
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/news/an-introduction-to-harvesting-solar-energy-from-space/

Thanks again for listening, and we look forward to seeing you next time!

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