Private industry holds keys to China's cosmic success

As a reporter covering China's space programs, I have witnessed dozens of liftoffs when a gigantic rocket soars into the skies. I have talked with many Chinese astronauts and seen capsules and samples returned from the moon. I am proud of the accomplishments made by Chinese scientists and engineers.

However, being proud is not equal to being complacent or even arrogant. I know clearly that China still lags behind the superpower in the global space arena — the United States — in many aspects. And I am convinced that only attention, support and funds from the government alone are no longer enough to ensure that China can continue to keep pace with the US in terms of developing orbital resources or establishing a human presence on the moon or even on Mars.

To achieve our goals and maintain our competitiveness, we must go full speed on a roadmap that has been laid out for several years yet is still restricted by institutional obstacles in policies and State-funded programs. The core essence of the roadmap is commercialization.

I am not calling for weakening State-owned contractors' roles in the space sector — they have actually excelled in national projects ranging from building a space station to putting a rover on Mars. I am urging more attention, fair opportunities and unbiased policies for private players.

For example, look at what SpaceX has achieved: it has made reusable rockets including a gigantic type even bigger than the Saturn V used in the Apollo missions, and has formed a massive network of more than 7,000 satellites — and the number continues to grow.

The success of SpaceX has testified to a truth that has been corroborated in many other circles: fair competition and diversification, together with appropriate management and supervision from authorities, lead to a robust market and business prosperity, and consequently improve a country's overall capability in that field.

It is true that our space authorities have been striving to bolster commercialization by encouraging private companies to take part in State programs and giving more resources to such enterprises, and that Chinese private companies have made remarkable progress such as fulfilling the world's first orbital flight of a methane-fueled rocket.

However, Zhang Shijie, a senior spacecraft researcher and chief scientist at GalaxySpace, a leading private satellite maker in Beijing, told me that more efforts are needed, such as providing a higher level of market access for private companies and removing outdated constraints that hinder private players' growth.

Zhang was apparently restraining himself from making complaints in front of me. As far as I know, it is not uncommon for private enterprises to have difficulties getting access to State-owned spacecraft research, testing and telemetry infrastructure, or receiving opportunities to take part in national space programs.

Therefore, I hope that space authorities and State-owned conglomerates can offer more favorable policies and support to our private enterprises to help them become stronger, thus improving China's overall capability in the global space arena.