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 been used for sites capable ...

of China. It is located in Zeyuan Town (), approximately northwest of

Xichang Xichang, formerly known as Jiandu, Jianchang and Ningyuan(fu), is a city in and the seat of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in the south of Sichuan, China. In 2012 it had a population of 481,796. History The Qiongdu were the local pe ...

Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture Liangshan (; Yi: ''Niep Sha'', pronounced ), officially the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, is an autonomous prefecture occupying much of the southern extremity of Sichuan province, People's Republic of China; its seat is Xichang. Liangsh ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of th ...

. 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 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 February 15, 1996 when the Long March 3B launch vehicle failed while being launched from the Xichang Satel ...

satellite failed on launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Also, a 2007 test of an

anti-satellite missile Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT) are space weapons designed to incapacitate or destroy satellites for strategic or tactical purposes. Several nations possess operational ASAT systems. Although no ASAT system has been utilised in warfare, a few ...

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 Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

border, thus safer. 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 16 July 1990, sending into orbit

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

's first indigenously developed

Badr-1 Badr-A ( ur, , 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-A'' was Pakistan's first indigenously deve ...

satellite and

HS-601 The Boeing 601 (sometimes referred to as the BSS-601, and previously as the HS-601) is a communications satellite bus designed in 1985 and introduced in 1987 by Hughes Space and Communications Company. The series was extremely popular in the 199 ...

1996 Launch accident

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

Long March 3B The Long March 3B (, ''Chang Zheng 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 rocke ...

heavy carrier rocket carrying Intelsat 708 veered off course 22 seconds after launch, crashing 1200 meters away from the launch pad in a nearby mountain village, destroying 80 homes. According to the official report, six people died and 56 were injured. The number of civilian deaths has been disputed, with estimates of the number of casualties as around a few hundred.

China's first successful ASAT test

On 11 January 2007, China conducted an anti-satellite missile test with a 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) and o ...

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 Dong-Feng 21 (DF-21; NATO reporting name CSS-5 - Dong-Feng () is a two-stage, solid-fuel rocket, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) in the Dong Feng series developed by China Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology A ...

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 weapon based solely on a projectile's kinetic energy instead of an explosive or any other kind of p ...

and is fully mobile.

Beginning of China's lunar exploration program

On October 24, 2007,

Chang'e 1 Chang'e 1 (; ) was an unmanned 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 at ...

, an un-crewed Moon orbiter of the

Chang'e 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). The program incorp ...

, 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) is currently under construction, as of December 2019.

Facilities

Launch Complex 1 (LC-1)

Not built Shuguang launch site, later used as a viewing area.

Launch Complex 2 (LC-2 or LA-2)

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 sat ...

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 geosync ...

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 r ...

rockets.

Launch Complex 3 (LC-3 or LA-3)

Also known as LA-1. 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 Ma ...

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 use ...

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). The program incorpo ...

. Demolished and rebuilt again between 2013 and 2015.

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 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.

References

External links

* Aerial Maps fro
Google Maps
{{Authority control Spaceports in China Buildings and structures in Sichuan Chinese space program facilities Xichang