The Gobi desert is the largest in Asia, spanning 1000 miles or 1600 km. Tucked away in the part of
the desert in the northwestern Chinese province of Gansu is something that looks out of this world. A
mock Mars base opened in 2019. Visitors experience what life is like on a real space mission.
This is not just for show. This is a glimpse of Beijing's bid to become the next space superpower.
During the 70th anniversary of the People's Republic of China in 2019. President Xi Jinping
said no force can stop China's progress. He wasn't just talking about dominance on earth
but in space. There is a lot of catching up to do. The Soviet Union sent the first person to space in
April 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. American Alan Shepard followed the next month. Meanwhile, China
took four more decades to get there. The first Chinese astronaut to go was Yang Liwei in 2003.
However, Beijing believes it can conquer space - just look at the name it gives its rockets:
Long March. The long march refers to the famous military tactic by the communists when they were
nearly defeated by the nationalists during the Chinese civil war under the leadership of Mao
Zedong. The communists retreated on a brutal 6,000-mile (10,000-km) trek starting in 1934.
They used that escape to regroup, rebuild, and eventually win the war. In the same way,
victory in space could come after much struggle and it's already gotten a small taste of it.
In December 2018, China went where no human or machine had ever gone before,
sending the Chang'e 4 lander and rover to the far side of the moon and this is simply the beginning.
China aims to build a research station at the moon's southern pole - a region of particular
interest because water is likely to exist frozen in the craters. That's also where it wants to
send astronauts in a decade and it might not be alone. NASA has contracted commercial companies
to help them return to the moon. SpaceX, Blue Origin, and a newcomer called Dynetics are
developing lunar landing systems for the agency. The Chinese government has also been encouraging
the growth of a commercial space sector. July 2019, the firm i-Space sent the first privately
funded Chinese rocket into orbit. Hyperbola- 1 launched a radio satellite and several small
payloads. China eventually envisions private companies launching a constellation of satellites
offering services like high-speed internet, similar to what SpaceX is doing right now.
Elon Musk's company has been launching Starlink satellites using the Falcon 9,
a partially reusable rocket because the booster lands back on Earth.
Reusing rockets to drastically bring down costs is what separates SpaceX from its competition.
Many Chinese companies are starting to test out reusability as well. In August 2019, the
startup LinkSpace launched a rocket that hovered 300 meters in the air before coming back down.
It might sound like a small feat considering what SpaceX has achieved but it's a big first step.
A bigger step is the national space agency's plan to operate a reusable Long March rocket.
Version 8 is supposedly the answer to the Falcon 9. It, too, would land vertically - notably with
its side boosters intact. The test flight is believed to be scheduled for this year
although it's possible we may not know until afterward because much of what happens in the
country is shrouded in mystery. For example, in September, Chinese state media said it
had launched a reusable experimental spacecraft without saying much more. A story from three years
ago did refer to a launch in 2020 that would fly into the sky like an aircraft - bringing to mind
Boeing's space plane used by the U.S. Air Force for covert missions. It takes off vertically and
lands horizontally on a runway. Even though a lot is kept under wraps, one thing is clear:
China will not be going to the International Space Station since U.S. Congress banned them
due to security concerns. So what do you do when you're not welcome at the ISS?
You build your own. The Chinese space station is slated to be completed by 2022.
Beijing has already inked a deal for European astronauts to visit - that's NASA's partner,
the European Space Agency. Besides the station and the moon, China's next ambition is to get to Mars.
In July, the Tianwen-1 rover headed on a path to the red planet. The expected arrival in February
next year coincides with NASA's Perseverance rover landing on Mars. The super heavy lift Long March 5
launched the chinese rover. It's the country's biggest rocket so far yet it will be small
in comparison to the Long March 9 currently under development, which will be used for crewed
missions to deep space starting around 2030. It's similar in size to NASA's Space Launch System for
missions beyond Earth's orbit with bigger versions to come. SpaceX's Starship towers over them all
at 120 meters but Long March's carrying capacity is said to be similar to Starship's - reportedly
holding 140 metric tons to low Earth orbit. Starship will carry over 100 metric tons and
up to 150 MTU for optimized versions. There is a big difference between the two: the Long March
9 is not reusable whereas Starship will be fully reusable, which makes SpaceX untouchable for now.
But China is making inroads to the point where other countries are trying not to get left behind.
Japan and India have agreed to work together on missions to the moon in order to counter
China's presence. That doesn't mean China will become a space superpower overnight.
It still has a lot to learn. In September, video posted on chinese social media
apparently showed the booster of a Long March 4B rocket crashing and narrowly missing a school in
the northwestern Chinese province of Shanxi. So more time is needed to perfect the technology.
If there's anything we've learned about China is that it learns
fast - like in manufacturing - where it worked efficiently and raced ahead of the pack.
Despite the long road or long march ahead, when China is set on conquering an industry,
there appears to be no stopping them. Hey guys, thanks so much for watching,
I'm Cindy Pom. So do you think China will ever catch up with other companies, including SpaceX?
Let me know your thoughts, you can leave them in the comment section below. If you like what you
saw, give it a like, and don't forget to subscribe to my new channel. A big shout out, as always,
goes out to my Patrons, including my Patreon Producer Nino Gjoni. I will see you all very soon.