The Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC), also known as the Xichang Space Center, is a

spaceport A spaceport or cosmodrome is a site for launching or receiving spacecraft, by analogy to a seaport for ships or an airport for aircraft. The word ''spaceport''—and even more so ''cosmodrome''—has traditionally referred to sites capable of ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. It is located in (),

Mianning county Mianning County ( zh, s=冕宁县, , ) is a county of Sichuan Province, China. It is under the administration of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture. History Mianning County has a long history of being a multi-ethnic region. ''The Annals of ...

, approximately northwest of

Xichang Xichang ( Northern Yi: /o̝˨˩dʐo̝˧/) is a city in and the seat of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in the south of Sichuan, China. History The Qiongdu were the local people at the time of contact with China. The county of Qiongdu is ...

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture (Nuosu language, Northern Yi: /nɛ˨˩ʂa˧/) is an autonomous prefecture occupying much of the southern extremity of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China. Its seat is Xichang. Liangshan covers an area o ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

. It is operated by the

People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force The People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force () is an arm of the People's Liberation Army. It was established on 19 April 2024. It is one of two independent space forces in the world. History The PLA Aerospace Force was established on 19 Apr ...

(formerly the

People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force The People's Liberation Army Strategic Support Force was a service branch of the People's Liberation Army that existed from December 2015 to April 2024. With an aim to improve the army's ability to fight what China terms "informationized confli ...

) and is known as the 27th Experimental Training base( MUCD: Unit 63790). The facility became operational in 1984 and is used to launch numerous civil, scientific, and military payloads annually. It is notable as the site of Sino-European space cooperation, with the launch of the first of two Double Star scientific satellites in December 2003. Chinese officials have indicated interest in conducting additional international satellite launches from XSLC. In 1996, a fatal accident occurred when the

Long March 3B The Long March 3B (), also known as the CZ-3B and LM-3B, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. A three-stage rocket with four strap-on ...

rocket carrying the

Intelsat 708 Intelsat 708 was a telecommunications satellite built by the American company Space Systems/Loral for Intelsat. It was destroyed on 15 February 1996 when the Long March 3B launch vehicle failed while being launched from the Xichang Satellite ...

satellite failed on its maiden launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, killing at least 6 people in a nearby rural village. Uncontrolled debris from launches continues to fall in the vicinity, most recently in December 2023 and June 2024. A 2007 test of an

anti-satellite missile Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for Military strategy, strategic or Military tactics, tactical purposes. Although no ASAT system has been utilized in warfare, a few countries (China, ...

was launched from the center.

History

China's first crewed space program

In order to support the Chinese Project 714 crewed space program in the 1960s, the construction of a new space center at

in the

province was decided, located farther from the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

border, thus safer. This construction was part of the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national security industry in the rugged interior of China to prepare for potential United States or Soviet Union invasion. The Shuguang One spacecraft was expected to be launched from the launch pad number one. After the cancellation of the program, the launch pad was never completed. Today, a viewing platform for officials has been built at the site.

First Long March-2E carrier rocket

China launched its first Long March-2E carrier rocket on July 16, 1990, sending into orbit

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

's first indigenously developed

Badr-1 Badr-1 (, meaning ''Full Moon-A'') was the first artificial and the first digital communications satellite launched by Pakistan's national space authority — the SUPARCO — in 1990. The ''Badr-1'' was Pakistan's first indigenously develop ...

satellite and HS-601.

1996 Launch accident

On February 15, 1996, a fatal accident occurred when the first new

heavy carrier rocket carrying Intelsat 708 veered off course 2 seconds after launch, crashing 1200 meters away from the launch pad into a hillside, destroying 80 homes in a nearby mountain village. According to the official report, six people died and 57 were injured. The number of civilian deaths has been disputed, with estimates of the number of casualties as around a few hundred. (Article on the crash of a rocket carrying a commercial payload on February 15, 1996) The village that was damaged in this accident later got demolished.

China's first successful ASAT test

On January 11, 2007, China conducted an anti-satellite missile test with an SC-19 ASAT weapon. A Chinese weather satellite — the

FY-1C Fēngyún (FY, ) are China's meteorological satellites. Launched since 1988 into polar Sun-synchronous and geosynchronous orbit, each three-axis stabilized Fengyun satellite is built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology ( SAST) a ...

polar orbit satellite of the Fengyun series, at an altitude of , with a mass of 750 kg — was destroyed by a kinetic kill vehicle. The SC-19 has been described as being based on a modified

DF-21 The Dongfeng 21 (DF-21; NATO reporting name CSS-5 - Dong-Feng () is a two-stage, solid-fuel, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) developed by China's Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology Academy. A part of the Dongfe ...

ballistic missile or its commercial derivative, the KT-2 with a

Kinetic Kill Vehicle A kinetic energy weapon (also known as kinetic weapon, kinetic energy warhead, kinetic warhead, kinetic projectile, kinetic kill vehicle) is a projectile weapon based solely on a projectile's kinetic energy to inflict damage to a target, inst ...

and is fully mobile.

Beginning of China's lunar exploration program

On October 24, 2007,

Chang'e 1 Chang'e 1 (; ) was an uncrewed Chinese lunar-orbiting spacecraft, part of the first phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. The spacecraft was named after the Chinese Moon goddess, Chang'e. Chang'e 1 was launched on 24 October 2007 a ...

, an un-crewed Moon orbiter of the

Chang'e program Chang'e ( ; ), originally known as Heng'e (), is the goddess of the Moon and wife of Hou Yi, the great archer. Renowned for her beauty, Chang'e is also known for her ascending to the Moon with her pet Yu Tu, the Moon Rabbit and living in the Moo ...

, was successfully launched from the facility, marking the beginning of China's lunar exploration program.

First Long March-3C carrier rocket

China launched its first Long March-3C carrier rocket on April 25, 2008. This was the 105th mission of China's Long March series of rockets, and also the launch of the nation's first data relay satellite (数据中继卫星)

Tianlian I Tianlian (Simplified Chinese: 天链, Traditional Chinese: 天鏈, English: ''Sky Link'') also known as CTDRS, is a Chinese data relay communication satellite constellation. The constellation serves to relay data from ground stations to spacecr ...

(天链一号). A new launch pad for next-generation rockets (such as

Long March 8 Long March 8 () is an orbital launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology to launch up to 5000 kg to a 700 km altitude Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The rocket is based on the Long March 7 with its first ...

) is currently under construction, as of December 2019.

Facilities

Launch Complexes

Three launch complexes were planned, and two were built: Launch Complex 1 (LC-1), not built, was intended as the Shuguang launch site, later used as a viewing area. Launch Complex 2 (LC-2 or LA-2), located at , and used for launching

Long March 2E The Long March 2E, also known as the Chang Zheng 2E, CZ-2E and LM-2E, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket from the Long March 2 family. The Long March 2E was a three-stage carrier rocket that was designed to launch commercial communications sa ...

Long March 3A The Long March 3A (), also known as the Chang Zheng 3A, CZ-3A and LM-3A, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. It is a 3-stage rocket, and is usually used to place communications satellites and Beidou navigation satellites into geosynch ...

and

Long March 3C The Long March 3C (), also known as the Changzheng 3C, CZ-3C and LM-3C, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. It is launched from Launch Complex 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC). A three-stage rocket with two strapon liquid ...

rockets. Launch Complex 3 (LC-3 or LA-3), also known as LA-1, and located at . Used for launching

Long March 2C The Long March 2C (LM-2C), also known as the Chang Zheng 2C (CZ-2C), is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Developed and manufactured by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), the Long M ...

Long March 3 The Long March 3 (), also known as the Changzheng 3, CZ-3 and LM-3, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. They were all launched from Launch Area 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It was a three-stage rocket, and was mostly used ...

and Long March 3B rockets. Demolished and rebuilt between 2005 and 2006. Upgraded in order to support the

Chinese Lunar Exploration Program The Chinese Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP; ), also known as the Chang'e Project () after the Chinese Moon goddess Chang'e, is an ongoing series of robotic Moon missions by the China National Space Administration (CNSA). Engineering Program ...

. Demolished and rebuilt again between 2013 and 2015. Mobile Launcher Pad, is used by

CASIC The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) is a Chinese state-owned enterprise that designs, develops and manufactures a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. CASI ...

Kuaizhou-1A Kuaizhou (KZ, , meaning "speedy vessel") (also called Feitian Emergency Satellite Launch System, Feitian-1, FT-1) is a family of Chinese "quick-reaction" orbital launch vehicles. Flying since 2013, Kuaizhou 1 and 1A consist of three solid-fueled ...

rocket to launch from Xichang.

Technical Center

XSLC's Technical Center is equipped for testing and integration of the payload and launch vehicle. Its Mission Command and Control Center is located southwest of the launch pads, and provides flight and safety control during overall system rehearsal and launch. It is serviced by a dedicated railway and highway directly from

Xichang Qingshan Airport Xichang Qingshan Airport is an airport serving Xichang, the seat of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, China. The airport started an expansion project in February 2010. Airlines and destinations See also *List of airpo ...

and Manshuiwan railway station, which is about away from the launch site. Two launch complexes at the facility support flight operations.Profile of Xichang Satellite Launch Center
, GlobalSecurity.org.

Residential Area

The Residential Area of XSLC was built to house workers of the launch center, and consists of: * "Coordination building" (Residential complex with an office and dormitories for Chinese employees of XSLC) * Hotel for foreign workers (Located right next to the Coordination building) * Logistics facilities, Cooperation Building, hospital * Space park The Residential area is located right next to the main gate of the launch center, and is connected to other facilities by a highway and railroad. On the 15th of February of 1996, The Long March 3B carrying

crashed into a hillside in front of the Coordination Building and right next to the main gate of the launch center. Located right next to the main gate of the launch center was Mayelin Village (not to be confused with Mayelin), which has disappeared following the Intelsat 708 disaster. Several villages and small towns, such as Mayelin, still exist near XSLC.

Launches

Previously launches

Recent launches

Upcoming launches

Notes

References

External links

* Aerial Maps fro
Google Maps

Xichang: An important base for China's space dream
- YouTube, 2019
Xichang Space Launch Center
- YouTube, 2014 {{Authority control Spaceports in China Buildings and structures in Sichuan Chinese space program facilities Xichang People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force Bases Corps grade units of the armed forces of China BeiDou