Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility; Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility (spaceport) located in the Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia. It is part of the Dongfeng Aerospace City (Base 10). Although the facility is geographically located within Ejin Banner of Inner Mongolia's Alxa League, it is named after the nearest city, Jiuquan in Gansu Province. The launch center straddles both sides of the Ruo Shui river.
History
It was founded in 1958, the first of China's four spaceports. As with all Chinese launch facilities, it is remote and generally closed to foreigners.
The Satellite Launch Center is a part of Dongfeng Space City, also known as Base 10 or Dongfeng base. The Dongfeng site also includes People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) test flight facilities, a space museum and a so-called martyr's cemetery.
JSLC is usually used to launch vehicles into lower and medium orbits with large orbital inclination angles, as well as testing medium to long-range missiles. Its facilities are state of the art and provide support to every phase of a satellite launch campaign. The site includes the Technical Center, the Launch Complex, the Launch Control Center, the Mission Command and Control Center and various other logistical support systems.
The center covers 2800 km2 and may have housing for as many as 20,000 people. The facilities and launch support equipment were likely modelled on Soviet counterparts and the Soviet Union likely provided technical support to Jiuquan.
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center was expanded during the Third Front campaign to develop basic industry and national defense industry in China's rugged interior to prepare for potential invasion by the Soviet Union or the United States.
The launch center has been the focus of many of China's ventures into space, including their first satellite Dong Fang Hong I
in 1970, and their first crewed space mission Shenzhou 5 on 15 October 2003. As of 2021, all Chinese crewed space flights, meaning all flights in the Shenzhou program including crewed flights to the Tiangong space station, have launched from Jiuquan.
In August 2016, China launched the first quantum communication satellite, the "Quantum Experiments at Space Scale", from the center.
In August 2018, Chinese private rocket manufacturing startups i-Space and OneSpace launched sub-orbital rockets from the center. On July 25, 2019, the first Chinese private orbital launch took place from Jiuquan as I-Space launched their Hyperbola-1 rocket.
Launch pads
The launch site comprises two launch complexes, each containing several launch locations. All the launch statistics reported below are up to date as of August 2023.
North Launch Complex
The North Launch Complex consists in two different launch areas, both currently inactive.
Launch Area 2: used for both orbital launches and ballistic missile tests.
LA-2A: used for launches of the DF-3 and DF-5 ballistic missiles and hosted the first Chinese orbital launches, carried out through the CZ-1 launch vehicle. It hasn't hosted orbital launch attempts since 1971.
LA-2B: used for orbital launches of the CZ-2A, CZ-2C, CZ-2D and FB-1 launch vehicles. It has been last used in 1996.
Launch Area 3: situated approximately 2.7 km south of Launch Area 2, used for launches of the DF-1, DF-2 and R-2 ballistic missiles.
North pad (located at approximately )
South pad (located at approximately )
South Launch Complex
The South Launch complex is currently active and consists in a main launch area used by CASC to handle the launches of several Long March vehicles and a variety of concrete pads for small rocket launches.
Launch Area 4: it's situated approximately 37.9 km south of Launch Area 3.
SLS-1 (LS-43/91): it has been used since 1999 for the launches of the crew-rated CZ-2F launcher and it's equipped with a nearby Vertical Assembly Facility.
SLS-2 (LS-43/94): operational since 2003, it has been hosting launches of various medium-lift launch vehicles of the Long March family, including CZ-2C, CZ-2D, CZ-4B and CZ-4C.
Commercial launch pads: situated in multiple locations south and east of Launch Area 4, they're used for small rocket launches of different government-owned and private companies.
LS-95: consisting in two pads, it has hosted launches of the Long March 11, Kuaizhou, Jielong 1, OS-M1, Hyperbola-1 and Ceres-1 launch vehicles. The first launch, a test flight of the Kuaizhou-1 rocket, took place on 25 September 2013, while the last one was a Ceres-1 launch on 25 August 2023.
Pad A, the most used, accounts for a total of 41 launch attempts
Pad B hosted only 5 launches.
LS-96: a single pad handled by the private company LandSpace for the launches of its Zhuque-2 launch vehicle. It has hosted 2 launches so far, the second of which being Zhuque-2's first successful flight.
LS-120: a single pad handled by the private company Space Pioneer for the launches if its Tianlong-2 launch vehicle. It has hosted only one successful launch as of today.
LS-130: a single pad handled by the state-owned company CAS Space for the launches of their Kinetica 1 launch vehicle. It has hosted 2 successful launches as of today.
Image gallery
See also
Chinese space program
Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center
Wenchang Satellite Launch Center
Xichang Satellite Launch Center
References
External links
Base 20 Jiuquan Space Facility on GlobalSecurity.org
Buildings and structures in Alxa League
Chinese space program facilities
Spaceports in China
Infrastructure completed in 1958
1958 establishments in China
Jiuquan
Rocket launch sites in China