A Missile Giant is Targeting 20% of the Market in Order to Launch Small Satellites

Chinese Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), the largest missile making company in the country, is taking aim at 20 percent or more of small satellite launch contracts in the world by 2020, company executives said. Space.com had reported back in November that CASIC had created Expace Technology Co. to market the solid-fueled Kuaizhou rocket globally. In an effort to bid for small-satellite space business worldwide expects to launch 10 of its Kuaizhou solid-fueled rockets per year between 2017 and 2020.

In a statement published by China Daily, Zhang Di, vice president of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp. (CASIC) Fourth Academy, said Expace Technology Co. would charge around $10,000 per kilogram of satellite payload, which he said was less than half the prevailing commercial price. In addition to being vice president, Zhang is also chairman of Expace. 

Not only is CASIC investing in special rockets but it is also making it cheaper to launch it's satellites in order to attract other businesses to utilize its services. This is a double whammy for companies that are looking to enter the market as they have compete with even cheaper and efficient services. Businesses are entering the small satellite industry because the products are cheaper than traditional small satellites and this move by CASIC is perfect timing for providing an even better bargain.

"We estimate that from 2017 to 2020, we will send aloft at least 10 solid-fuel carrier rockets each year, to send about 50 small satellites into orbit," said Guo Yong, president of the CASIC Fourth Academy, in an exclusive interview with China Daily in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. That, he said, would account for "about one-fifth of the estimated total annual missions of solid-fuel rockets around the world in that period".

CASIC is currently getting launches ready for many overseas clients. Designers said the Kuaizhou 11 has a liftoff weight of 78 metric tons and will be able to place a 1-ton payload into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers, or a 1.5-ton payload into a low Earth orbit at an altitude of 400 km.