Hainan opens satellite data center to serve BRICS countries

HAIKOU /China/, November 25. The southern Chinese province of Hainan opened Satellite Data and Application Research Center this week, which will serve the needs of BRICS countries. This was reported by the Hainan Daily newspaper.

According to the paper, the center is located in Wenchang International Aerospace City (northeast of the island), the Space Launch Site of the same name which is China's southernmost location for sending spacecraft into orbit. The new facility will assist the member states of the association, determine the location of satellites, receive, process, and distribute the data.

The center will allow Hainan to make another breakthrough in cooperation with other countries in space research, observers say. Its activities are supervised by the administration of Wenchang International Aerospace City. The center, however, will primarily process satellite data from China's National Space Administration, the paper notes.

The center is expected to promote international cooperation at both government and civilian levels. As a result, Hainan is expected to help implement a number of important projects.

The island plays an important role in China's space development. The Wenchang Space Launch Site is one of China's four space launch complexes and is the only place in the country where technical conditions allow the launch of the CZ-7A, the longest (60.7 m) rocket of national design.

Other Chinese next-generation launchers, which China can be put into orbit only in Hainan, are the commercial CZ-8, as well as the CZ-5 and CZ-5B. They are the most massive (870 and 837.5 tons, respectively) of all counterparts developed in China. In addition, the space launch facility is a popular attraction, which drew more than 8 million tourists in 2021, who spent 6 billion yuan (more than $942 million) during their visit.

Source: https://tass.com/science/1542515