01 September 2020
As we near the 2/3 point for the year 2020, it is starting to feel like a “lost year” for some. China has been a little bit different. While the country was subject to a brutal lockdown during February and March, things have begun to return to relative normalcy. This normalcy has also been reflected in the Chinese space industry, which over the course of this year has continued to grow rapidly. This has been met by increased government initiatives related to space, something that has occurred at both a national and local government level. This has contributed to an increased splintering of the Chinese space industry away from Beijing. Longer-term, the increased involvement of local and provincial governments in concert with commercial companies will likely lead to innovation, albeit in a comparatively inefficient way due to overlapping responsibilities and duplication of work.
MORE by Blaine Curcio for SpaceWatchGlobal...

02 September 2020
Commsat, a private satellite producer in Beijing started the construction of its satellite plant on 01 September in Tangshan, a coastal city in Hebei province. The plant is in Tangshan's Lunan district and will become operational around the beginning of 2021. Its initial production capacity will be about 100 satellites with weights ranging from 50 to 500 kilograms. Commsat President Peng Yuanyuan said in the statement that the Tangshan plant will adopt pulse-line manufacturing and intelligence technologies to make satellites in a fast, cost-effective manner. The plant will not only manufacture satellites but also conduct research on space-based communication technologies and ground applications.
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02 September 2020
On 2 September, the National Satellite Ocean Application Service of the Ministry of Natural Resources confirmed that a marine observation test of the HY-1D ocean-monitoring satellite has been completed. The test provided synchronous observation data from the ground and space to check the satellite's payload performance and product authenticity. HY-1D was launched on 11 June. Together with the HY-1C satellite, launched in 2018, the HY-1D will form China's first civil-use satellite constellation to increase its global observation coverage and improve its monitoring of ocean color, water temperature, coastal resources and the environment. Once completed, the constellation will also offer support for industries such as meteorology, agriculture and water conservation, the Ministry said.
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03 September 2020
At least five types of forage grasses have been created through space-based breeding programs to develop beneficial mutations. The results of the programmes have been approved by the government for use in nationwide or provincial-level planting, according to an academic workshop on space breeding for forage grass that was held in Lanzhou, Gansu province, over the last weekend. Compared with natural or conventionally bred types of forage grasses, these space-developed versions feature higher protein content, greater annual yields, shorter growth periods and better resistance against diseases and insect pests, allowing cattle farmers to feed their cows with better fodder.
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