China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

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China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation
中国 航天 科技 集团 有限公司
legal form Centrally managed company
founding July 1, 1999
Seat Beijing (headquarters)
management Wu Yansheng
Number of employees 179,788 (2019)
sales 250.2 billion yuan (2019)
Branch Space travel
Website english.spacechina.com

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation ( Chinese  中國 航天 科技 集團 有限公司  /  中国 航天 科技 集团 有限公司 , short 中国 航天 or CASC ) is the prime contractor for the Chinese space program . CASC is a large state-owned group of companies, including manufacturers of the Changzheng launch vehicles and the Beidou navigation satellites , and was founded on July 1, 1999 as the successor to the umbrella company for the space industry. The company's headquarters are in the Haidian district of Beijing .

history

The history of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation begins on August 6, 1956, when Defense Minister Peng Dehuai headed the so-called "Fifth Office" (第五 局, Pinyin Dìwǔ Jú ) at the headquarters of his authority in the three-gates building in Beijing by Zhong Fuxiang (钟 夫 翔, 1911–1992), with Prof. Qian Xuesen from the California Institute of Technology as chief engineer. On October 8, 1956, the “5th Ministry of Defense Research Institute (国防部 第五 研究院, Pinyin Guófángbù Dìwǔ Yánjiūyuàn ) was founded, which took over the staff of the Fifth Bureau on March 1, 1957. Qian Xuesen became head of the institute, which dealt with the development of the Chinese atomic bomb and launchers for nuclear weapons. Since its inception, the fifth research institute had closely with the time in Harbin settled Military Academy of Engineering worked. When a separate rocket science faculty was established there in 1958, contacts were deepened; soon a large proportion of the researchers at the institute consisted of Harbin graduates.

Lieutenant General Wang Bingzhang, 1962–1965 head of the 5th Research Institute, 1965–1971 of the 7th Ministry

In March 1960, by order of the Central Military Commission, General Liu Yalou (刘亚楼, 1910-1965), Commander of the Air Force of the People's Republic of China and Deputy Minister of Defense, took over the management of the 5th Research Institute. Lieutenant General Wang Bingzhang (王秉璋, 1914-2005), deputy commander of the Air Force, became his deputy and political commissar of the institute. From then on, the two managed the day-to-day business, while Qian Xuesen, now General Liu's second deputy, coordinated the actual research and development. Then in June 1962, Lieutenant General Wang was promoted to head of the institute.

At this point in time, the 5th research institute already had three branch institutes (分院). Originally, the development of surface-to-surface missiles, anti-aircraft missiles and anti-ship missiles was based at the 1st branch institute. In 1963, as part of a reorganization, each branch institute was assigned a missile type; the Solid Propulsion Research Institute in Luzhou , Sichuan Province was assigned as the 4th branch institute. The division of labor looked like this:

  • 1st branch of the 5th research institute: surface-to-surface missiles of the Dongfeng series (东风 or "Ostwind")
  • 2nd branch of the 5th research institute: surface-to-air missiles of the Hongqi series (红旗 or "Red Flag")
  • 3rd branch of the 5th research institute: anti-ship missiles of the Haiying series (海鹰 or "Seeadler")
  • 4. Branch of the 5. Research Institute: Solid Propellant Rocket Motors

As early as November 5, 1960, Qian Xuesen and his group had launched the first Chinese rocket, later called "Dongfeng 1", from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome . The Dongfeng 2A medium-range missile followed on June 29, 1964, and the first Chinese atomic bomb detonated on October 16, 1964 at the Lop Nor nuclear weapons test site . The range of tasks and the number of employees had grown continuously. Thereupon the National People's Congress decided on January 4, 1965 at the end of the first session of the third legislative period, on the proposal of Prime Minister Zhou Enlai , to outsource the missile activities from the Ministry of Defense to a separate ministry. The 5th Research Institute was renamed the “Seventh Ministry of Mechanical Engineering” (第七 机械 工业 部, Pinyin Dì Qī Jīxiè Gōngyè Bù ); Wang Bingzhang remained head of the agency, now as regular cabinet minister, with Qian Xuesen as one of his deputies. In addition to the development of ICBMs , space travel was now defined as the Ministry's area of responsibility for the first time: it was responsible for the scientific research, development, testing and manufacture of spacecraft as well as the expansion and construction of cosmodromes.

In May 1982 the Seventh Ministry of Mechanical Engineering was renamed as the "Ministry of Space Industry" (航天 工业 部, Pinyin Hángtiān Gōngyè Bù ) as part of a cabinet reform , followed in April 1988 by the merger with the Ministry of Aviation Industry (the former Third Ministry of Mechanical Engineering) to the "Ministry of Aerospace Industry" (航空 航天 工业 部, Pinyin Hángkōng Hángtiān Gōngyè Bù ). This was an early form of today's conglomerate CASC, which dealt not only with civil and military aircraft, satellites and missiles, but also with electrical household appliances. As part of the reform and opening policy , the united ministry already had a department for international cooperation (国际 合作 司), which was responsible for the exchange of academics and the establishment of business contacts with foreign countries. The Chinese government had approved on October 26, 1985 to offer commercial satellite launches with the Changzheng 2 and Changzheng 3 launch vehicles on the domestic and international market .

The Ministry of the Aerospace Industry was not a ministry in the usual sense, but rather a corporation, if not for-profit, with factories and research facilities scattered across the country. This was also formally taken into account on March 22, 1993, when the ministry was dissolved by resolution of the National People's Congress and the "umbrella company for the aerospace industry" and the "umbrella company for the space industry" (中国 航天 工业 总公司, Pinyin Zhōngguó Hángtiān Gōngyè Zǒnggōngsī ) were founded . The National Space Agency was founded on April 22, 1993, also by resolution of the People's Congress, for the organizational aspects of space travel and as a contact for foreign space travel organizations. Both institutions, the umbrella company for the space industry and the space agency, were headed by Liu Jiyuan (刘纪 原, * 1933), a rocket engineer who started at the 5th Research Institute in Moscow in 1960 and remained loyal to the institution through all incarnations was.

On July 1, 1999, the umbrella company for the space industry was split up into two individual companies:

  • China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, CASC for short. This company focuses on ICBMs, launch vehicles, manned spacecraft and space stations, satellites and deep space probes. So it is essentially a space company.

Both companies were converted into Centrally Managed Companies in 2003 , so they are subordinate to the State Council of the People's Republic of China via the Commission for the Control and Administration of State Assets (SASAC) and thus belong to the currently (June 2019) 127 systemically important key companies in China.

In the course of the professionalization of the Chinese state economy, the CASC was converted from a state-owned enterprise (全民所有制 企业) into a state enterprise (国有 独资公司) on December 8, 2017 with the approval of the Commission for the Control and Management of State Assets. The name was changed from CASC to CASC GmbH (中国 航天 科技 集团 有限公司) (the English name remained the same without “Ltd.”), the share capital was increased from 11,120,690,000 yuan to 20 billion yuan. The sole shareholder is SASAC, the company's headquarters are still in Beijing, the business fields remained the same and nothing changed for the staff.

Business areas

CASC has a number of subordinate units that design, develop and manufacture a variety of spacecraft , launch vehicles , strategic missile systems and ground equipment. In addition, CASC also produces a range of high-end civil products such as machinery, chemicals, communication equipment, transportation equipment, computers, medical care products and environmental protection equipment.

The CASC is involved in the following space projects, among others:

At the end of 2019, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation had exactly 179,788 employees. Wu Yansheng (吴燕生, * 1963), an electrical engineer from Hubei who was a postgraduate student at Tsinghua University from September 1986 at the 1st branch institute of the Ministry of Space Industry in Wuhan had worked (where his parents were also rocket engineers) and had been promoted about every two to three years since he received his doctorate and joined the company in February 1989. From 2003 and before he moved up to the top of the group as Deputy General Director in November 2007, Wu Yansheng was primarily involved in manned space travel and the Chang'e-1 lunar probe at CASC . As CEO, Wu Yansheng pursues a zero-risk policy (万无一失). In mid-November 2019 , for example, he traveled to the Wenchang Cosmodrome to warn the company's engineers and technicians to work as slowly as possible when preparing the launch of a revised version of the Changzheng 5 launcher and to check everything several times. The start on December 27, 2019 was also successful. In a similar situation with a Changzheng 3B , where a problem with a valve arose shortly before take-off in June 2020, he ordered the countdown to be aborted in coordination with the commander of the People's Liberation Army responsible for the mission . There, too, the launch was successful a week later after repair work on the rocket.

The average age of the employees at CASC was just under 30 years old when the People's Republic of China started the lunar program in 2004 ; some veterans like Ye Peijian (* 1945) passed on their experience to a large number of young engineers. As of 2020, the average age in the company was around 35 years, which the Supervisory Board regards as a good mix. CASC is initially not particularly attractive as an employer for young professionals due to the significantly lower pay compared to private companies. Those who apply there or enroll as students at one of the academies in order to be taken on as regular employees usually do so out of a personal interest in the space and for the satisfaction of participating in major national projects. Therefore, CASC has a low fluctuation in the workforce - the young engineers come to one of the academies with an intermediate diploma and stay until they retire, department heads sometimes work as consultants or in public relations for the company into old age.

profitability

For private customers from home and abroad, CASC offers package solutions, from the construction of a satellite - if requested - to the launch to remote control and orbit maintenance, with which the group also generates real income. CASC's main customers, however, are state institutions such as the People's Liberation Army , the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Weather Service (中国气象局). When buying a Shijian spy satellite or a Beidou navigation satellite, money from the defense budget or the budget of the academy, which is directly subordinate to the State Council etc., is only shifted within the state budget via the taxes paid by the company to the budget of the finance minister, which then the People's Liberation Army Provides money to buy new navigation satellites - 17 Beidou-3 were launched in 2018 alone. From the perspective of CASC itself, however, the company is a profitable company:

Annual result in yuan
year sales Profit
2019 250.20 billion (- 0.4%) 21.70 billion (+ 4.7%)
2018 251.30 billion (+ 8.6%) 20.73 billion (+ 5.6%)
2017 232.04 billion (+ 8.8%) 19.65 billion (+ 11%)
2016 213.10 billion (+ 11%) 17.60 billion (+ 13.4%)
2015 192.10 billion (+ 14.7%) 15.55 billion (+ 26.2%)
2014 168.07 billion (+ 18.1%) 12.51 billion (+ 11.4%)

One reason for the relatively high profitability of CASC is that the company, as a high-tech company, benefits from government subsidy programs. For example, at the Beijing Institute for Spacecraft Design (北京 空间 飞行器 总体设计 部, Pinyin Běijīng Kōngjiān Fēixíngqì Zǒngtǐ Shèjì Bù ), a subsidiary of the Chinese Academy for Space Technology (itself a CASC subsidiary), a group of engineers led by Ren Depeng (任德鹏) with the preliminary planning for the energy supply of a manned lunar base, financed from the fund for national scientific and technical large-scale projects of the Ministry of Science and Technology . In other words, the development costs incurred by CASC for its products are lower than in a free market economy. However, until projects are included in a funding program, the preliminary planning, in some cases even the construction of prototypes such as the Shijian 20 technology test satellite, must be financed in advance by the company from the reserves. In 2019, CASC spent around 5.3 billion yuan from its own resources to finance 162 projects, including plant expansion and new spacecraft.

While the technology funding programs , which are usually designed for 15 years, primarily affect EBIT , the space funds from the five-year plan are driving up CASC's gross sales. Here, for example, the spending of the Chinese government solely on space science, i.e. basic astrophysical research with the DAMPE satellite, etc .:

12. Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) 4.7 billion yuan
13. Five-year plan (2016-2020) 8.0 billion yuan
14. Five-year plan (2021-2025) 11.6 billion yuan
15. Five-year plan (2026-2030) 15.6 billion yuan

The selection process here is such that the National Center for Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences first announces an ideas competition, where institutes of the academy, universities and private companies can submit proposals for projects in the fields of solar physics , microgravity, etc. At the last such competition in December 2016, a total of 136 research projects were submitted by 54 institutions, from which a commission of 30 academics selected 80 projects, which, after further review by 15 experts, were funded by the Academy of Sciences for six months respective scientists were able to work out specific mission plans. From these 80 concepts, the projects worthy of funding from the five-year plan are then selected according to the criterion of the prospect of success. The Center for Space Science currently assumes that around 15 scientific satellites will be launched between 2021 and 2030, all of which will be built by subsidiaries of the CASC (mostly the Chinese Academy of Space Technology ).

Academies and subsidiaries

CASC has a number of academies, some of which emerged from the historical branch institutes, as well as market economy-oriented subsidiaries (which in turn have subsidiaries):

  • China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC)
  • China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), also known as "First Academy"
  • Academy for Solid Rocket Engine Technology (AASPT), also known as the "Fourth Academy"
  • Shaanxi Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (陕西 航天 科技 集团 有限公司)
  • Chinese Academy of Space Technology (CAST), also known as the "Fifth Academy"
  • Academy for Liquid Rocket Engine Technology (AALPT), also known as the "Sixth Academy"
  • Sichuan Academy of Space Technology (四川 航天 技术 研究院, SAAT), also known as the "Seventh Academy"
  • Shanghai Academy of Space Technology (SAST), also known as the "Eighth Academy"
  • Society for modern space electronics AG (航天 时代 电子 技术 股份有限公司, CATEC, Chinese Academy for Space Electronics or 中国 航天 电子 技术 研究院, CAAET), also known as "Ninth Academy"
  • Chinese Academy of Space Aerodynamics (中国 航天 空气 动力 技术 研究院, CAAA), also known as the "Eleventh Academy"
  • China Satellite Communications Corporation (中国 卫 通 集团 股份有限公司, CSCC), also known as "China Satcom"
  • China Aerospace International Holdings Limited (中國 航天 國際 控股 有限公司, CASIL)
  • Chinese Space Publishing GmbH (中国 宇航 出版 有限 责任 公司)

See also

Web links

 Wikinews: Chinese Space Portal  - in the news

Individual evidence

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  2. ↑ 高 小林: 中国 导弹 开路先锋. In: hjgbj.com. September 25, 2018, Retrieved June 8, 2019 (Chinese).
  3. ↑ 我们 的 太空 微 博: 首次 披露 “1059” 工程 珍贵 画面 ： 东风破 晓 开 天地！ In: Weibo.com. August 8, 2018, accessed June 9, 2019 (Chinese). Contains footage from the launch of the rocket.
  4. ↑ The first ministry was actually responsible for mechanical engineering, the second concentrated civil and military nuclear activities, the third was responsible for aviation, the fourth for electronics, the fifth for tanks and artillery, the sixth for shipbuilding, and the eighth for agricultural machinery.
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  10. ↑ Consumer goods companies like Huawei or Alibaba , on the other hand, are not considered to be systemically relevant in China.
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  18. ↑ The by-products of space travel also marketed by CASC such as chemicals or solar modules do not play a role in the balance sheet press conferences.
  19. ↑ One euro is equivalent to about 7.8 yuan.
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