China targeting 15% share of satellite launch business

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.