China


2008 – Top-level Trends

“Many young people today with a technical bent are more entranced with the Internet or biotechnology than space exploration. Space travel, after all, was a fascination of their parents’ generation,” noted a February 2003 Wall Street Journal article on recruiting challenges confronting NASA.

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2008 – Workforce

Investment in space creates measurable benefits that flow across a wide spectrum of economic activity. The greatest investment that the space industry can make is in its people. The global space economy creates high-paying jobs and also stimulates demand for products and services in industries not directly linked to space.

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2008 – Evolving National Space Policies

The activities of spacefaring nations increased in 2008, and the policies of those and other countries continue to evolve. These policy changes often reflect the need to fund or authorize activities in response to steps taken by other national space programs, particularly when matters of national de… Thank you for visiting The Space Report! The…

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2008 – Military Space Activity

The United States, Europe, and Japan all took steps in 2008 that will affect the direction and prominence of their military space activities in coming years. The increasing reliance of governments on space-based capabilities makes military space systems valuable national assets. Demonstrations of an… Thank you for visiting The Space Report! The Authoritative Guide to…

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2008 – Civil Space Activity

The trend of globalization in space activity continues, with nations entering into agreements to use each other’s infrastructure and space assets. Two decades ago only the United States, the Soviet Union, Europe, and China regularly launched and deployed satellites and other missions to space. Today… Thank you for visiting The Space Report! The Authoritative Guide…

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Pinpointing Pollution Prior to Olympics

Beijing Olympic organizers used remote sensing data from a U.S. satellite to analyze aerosol levels in and around Beijing before the games. The data enabled researchers to pinpoint reasons for the pollution and suggest ways to reduce it.

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Olympic Swimgear Redefined

Perhaps the highest visibility for a space technology spinoff in 2008 was the migration of technology used for space shuttle drag research into the design of the low-friction swimwear worn by a number of Olympic competitors, including multiple gold medalwinner Michael Phelps.

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2008 – BeiDou

China is planning to supplement its Compass Satellite network already in development. In April 2007, China launched BeiDou-2, the first MEO satellite for Compass. Plans have been announced for the launch of ## PNT satellites over the next two years. This network, limited to the Asia Pacific region initially, may be operational by the end of 2010.

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2008 – China Launch, Payload

China’s increasing participation in space continued in 2008 with the record high of ## orbital launches, exceeding its previous peak of ## orbital launches in 2007. These launches used China’s only operational vehicle family, the Long March (“Chang Zheng”, or CZ) series.

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