Feng Yu had considered buying a satellite in China, but China’s satellite technology is still at Dong Fang Hong 3 now. Compared to international standards, they are still at the early 1990s standards.
How wide is the gap between the Chinese satellites and the more advanced overseas satellites?
From an economic perspective, the lifespan of the Dong Fang Hong 3 satellite is only eight years. In comparison, the most advanced satellite overseas can last for 15 years.
One investment can last for 15 years, and the other is only eight years. Although the more advanced satellite cost doubled of Dong Fang Hong 3, the cost launching cost must also be considered.
Other people only need to launch one time, and you need to launch two times. Also, satellites’ launching cost is very high now, so China is helping other countries launch satellites. The profits from launching satellite are over 20%, and some even reach over 50%!
Other than the US, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France, UK, Japan, India, and many other countries are fighting for this market. The US is still the leader among all the countries.
Russia and Ukraine are in second place. After the Soviet Union is dissolved, Russia and Ukraine inherited many of the former Soviet Union’s Intercontinental ballistic missiles. With some slight modifications, it can be used to launch satellites.
These ballistic missiles are removed because of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the US and Soviet Union and are used to launch satellites.
This allowed the US, Russia, and Ukraine to lower the cost of launching satellites.
As China, India, and other countries become more developed, this market is too small for so many countries. The US felt it’s not worth it to target Russia as Russia is poor and is not afraid of going into a war with them. Their military is also stronger. So, the US starts to restrict the European and Asian countries.
The first country to be targeted is rising China. They bombed a Chinese embassy first and created a report saying China’s rockets are ballistic missiles. At that time, China is using Yi Xin rockets to save costs. China’s economy still has a big gap compared to the US.
This Yi Xin Rocket is an Intercontinental ballistic missile with multiple bursters. All of China’s commercial satellite launches are to cover up their research and developments of ballistic missiles.
So, the US stopped China from launching US satellites to stop them from accepting launch orders. But China still has other orders, and the US imposed stricter regulations. No US satellites or satellites using US satellites’ parts are allowed to be launched from China because they suspect China is stealing US satellite technology!
The US made a list of allegations against China. They claimed China had not only stole their satellite technology. They even stole their nuclear, intercontinental ballistic missile, submarine, etc. technologies.
If these technologies can be stolen easily, then the US defense is too lousy. It’s not easy to steal one of these technologies from another weaker country, let alone so many technologies at once.
The US is just denying China’s capability and Chinese scientists’ achievements in researching these technologies. Of course, many Chinese researchers are returning to China from the US during that period. But what’s wrong with them returning home?
Based on this logic, any country that had made technological advances are stealing from the US. If their technology is better than the US, they had stolen other US technologies to develop it!
Of course, those American representatives who supported this conspiracy are made speechless by China later. But these measures imposed by the US had severely impacted China’s space technology developments.
All these happened because the US felt threatened by China’s military rise and the rapid development of Chinese space technologies.
Also, the US is afraid China will cooperate with Russia, and their status as the World’s leader will be challenged.
This outcome forced China to cooperate with Europe. The US influence over Europe had been weakening, especially after they threatened Europe with sanctions. European countries saw what happened to Japan, which is tied closely to the US. When the US market crash, Japan is also severely impacted.
Now, China buys Europe-produced satellites, including the first and second generations, to upgrade their technologies.
At least they must increase the lifespan of the satellite to 15 years.
A communication satellite has dozens of transponders, and one transponder’s rental is almost 100 million USD annually. The cost of a satellite, including the launch, is only a few hundred million USD. If a satellite can last for 15 years, the returns will be more than ten times!
If the US can monopolize this market, it can get significant returns.
In Feng Yu’s previous life, China’s satellite technology kept improving and caught up with the international standards in the future. In some areas, China had surpassed them.
Although the profits still cannot be compared to those major corporations, it is sustainable. It can even sell its satellites to others.
Even now, China’s Long March 2 rockets had received lots of orders from Asia because it is cheap. A rocket launch in western countries costs at least 100 million USD. But China only cost 70 million USD. 30 million US difference is not a small amount.
Currently, China’s satellite technology is still not good. Even Russia’s commercial satellites are much better. Russia’s launch vehicle’s engine is the most advanced and had sold to the US.
The profits from launch vehicle engines are not as high as satellites. They can be considered the lowest in the industry. China saw this and decided to develop its rockets and satellites. They do not want to repeat Russia’s footsteps and become those western corporations’ workers.
In the future, China will compete with western countries in this industry. China provided a one-stop service for the whole satellite system. It includes launch, operating, setting up the base station, training packages, etc., and attracted many Asian and African countries.
This is selling the whole package, and not like those western corporations which only offer rental services. You can have full control over the satellite, and it’s a better deal than renting it.
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