China’s Space Industry in 2009: A Year in Review

China’s space industry is a strategic sector that the country’s leaders point out “constitutes an important force in safeguarding national security, driving scientific and technological advancement, enhancing national comprehensive power, and boosting international competitiveness.” Indeed, since 2000 China has made impressive gains in space power, expanding its human spaceflight program, and launching its first lunar orbiter and an increasingly diverse number of satellites. However, 2009 was a year of setbacks for China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), one of the space sector’s two dominant conglomerates, as it faced increasingly complex challenges brought on by a new dual mandate. It is unclear at this point whether CASC can successfully serve both the economic and national security interests now required of it or how steep the learning curve will be as the corporation prepares to compete at the next level.