'Chinese commercial space travel in 2025 possible'
China could launch commercial suborbital spaceflights by 2025, with each ticket expected to cost two to three million yuan, according to state media. A senior rocket scientist and founder of CAS Space, a Beijing-based rocket company, told the Global Times newspaper that the mainland’s commercial space sector has entered its best development phase. Yang Yiqiang claimed the Chinese commercial space industry could be on par with that in the US within a decade, adding the sector posted an annual compound growth rate of over 22 percent between 2015 and 2020. He also said the sector will be boosted by market demand and innovations in technology. China began encouraging private enterprises to develop the commercial space industry in 2015. After seven years, the sector now covers fields such as rocket launches, satellite and ground equipment development, and satellite operations and applications, Global Times reported. Meanwhile, a dozen cities, including Shanghai, Shenzhen and Wuhan are racing to develop their own local space economies.  In March, Wuhan said it would support leading aerospace firms to set up research and development centres as well as manufacturing and assembly facilities to accelerate the development of the national aerospace industrial base.  Wuhan is offering companies up to 50 million yuan in incentives for each project related to satellite, rocket and spacecraft production, according to a government notice. In July, construction for China's first commercial spacecraft launch site started in Wenchang City, in Hainan province, Xinhua news agency reported. Authorities there say they are striving to build Wenchang into a top-ranking international space city. Earlier in September, an uncrewed Blue Origin rocket carrying research payloads crashed shortly after liftoff from the US state of Texas. The incident marked a setback for Amazon chief Jeff Bezos' company. Blue Origin began flying humans to space on 10-minute there and back rides last year for an unspecified ticket price.  In all, it has flown 32 people – some as paying customers and others as guests. Notable passengers include founder Bezos and Star Trek icon William Shatner. Other companies offering tourism experiences include Virgin Galactic, which has not flown since carrying its founder Richard Branson to the edge of space in July 2021. While Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin offer short jaunts to the cosmos, Elon Musk's SpaceX works with another company called Axiom Space to offer longer missions to the International Space Station. (Agencies)