The issues that made our year

Satellite anniversary promises a stellar future

This year marks the 50th anniversary of China's maiden space mission, which placed the country's first satellite into orbit in April 1970.

As a reporter who usually writes dozens of stories about people and developments in the space sector each year, I am truly looking forward to the country's space program in the coming months.

We will see China's first Mars exploration mission that will release a rover to roam on the red planet; the fourth lunar expedition, which will bring back samples from the moon, 44 years after the world's most recent sample-return mission; and the manned program's new steps that will pave the way for construction of a massive space station and a lunar scientific outpost.

As far as I know, at least five new types of carrier rockets－the Long March 5B, 7A and 8, along with Smart Dragon 2 and Kuaizhou 11－are scheduled to make their maiden flights this year.

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's major space contractor, has announced that it has plans for at least 40 launch missions this year. Another State-owned conglomerate, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, is expected to undertake about eight missions.

Moreover, some private rocket businesses have published plans to launch their own rockets.

All of this will be a stark contrast to the situation in the first two decades of China's space industry, when there were just four launches a year. There were several years with only one flight or no launches.

In 2018, China conducted 39 orbital launches, more than any other nation and exactly the same number as the country's total space missions in the 1990s.

Last year, China carried out 34 orbital launches, continuing as the world's most-frequent user of rockets. They accounted for one-third of the world's total space missions last year, more than the United States, the European Union and India－ranked from third to fifth in the annual launch list－combined. The second-biggest launch nation was Russia, with 25 missions.

Those numbers may seem dry and dull, but they represent China's rising status in the international space community, as well as its efforts to explore the universe and push forward the boundaries of human knowledge.

From the very first day of its existence, China's space industry has depended on itself, or to be more specific, on the shoulders of numerous scientists, engineers and technicians who could not expect any help from outside.

In the hard days, those scientists and technicians endured hunger, wore shabby clothes and resided in humble houses, but they did not complain or feel sad. They toiled and sweated. They spent almost all of their time and energy on their tasks, leaving little time for their parents or children.

The past year saw my stories about a Chinese rover realizing the world's first journey to the moon's far side; about designers and engineers at a private startup in Beijing breaking State-owned enterprises' duopoly on carrier rockets; and one of the world's largest and mightiest carrier rockets roaring into the night sky after numerous difficulties.

I expect the country's space circles to continue making strides, and I will continue to enjoy the privilege of telling their stories to the world.