China targeting 15% share of satellite launch business![]() March 2, 2013 - 14:16 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - China is looking to increase its share of the global commercial satellite launching business, targeting a 15 percent share by 2020, The Associated Press reports. China has just 3 percent of the market now, but the goal laid out Saturday, March 2, by a leading space program official points to its ambitions to be a major player in space. The deputy head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, Liang Xiaohong, told the official Xinhua News Agency that China hopes to accomplish that by establishing strategic alliances with major launch services providers and satellite manufacturers, along with developing its own technology. China's main competition in the launch market comes from Europe and the U.S. Liang said China's first solid-fuel rocket that could be launched on short notice would make its first flight by 2016. Partner news Amy Elliott, chief administrative officer of the Oklahoma medical examiner's office, said 51 were confirmed dead. An Islamist insurgency, once confined largely to the republic of Chechnya, has spread across the North Caucasus in recent years. Earlier, at least five Azerbaijan soldiers were killed and six seriously injured when their vehicle rammed into a tree and overturned. Among its provisions are bans on child marriage and the traditional practice of selling and buying women to settle disputes. Partner news |