The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) is a major state-owned civilian and military space

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pad, launch pads, supported by a missile launch contro ...

manufacturer in China and one of the major launch service providers in the world. CALT is a subsidiary of the larger

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, or CASC, is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has subsidiaries which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategi ...

(CASC). It was established in 1957 by Dr. Xue-Sen Qian and is headquartered in Fengtai District,

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Its major contribution to China's civilian and military launch capability has been the manufacture of the

Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese ...

family of rockets. CALT has 31,600 employees and at least 13 research facilities. The current Chief Designer is Long Lehao (). CALT is also planning two

spaceplane A spaceplane is a vehicle that can fly and glide like an aircraft in Earth's atmosphere and maneuver like a spacecraft in outer space. To do so, spaceplanes must incorporate features of both aircraft and spacecraft. Orbital spaceplanes ten ...

s. They would both be single-stage to space

sub-orbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...

rocketplane A rocket-powered aircraft or rocket plane is an aircraft that uses a rocket engine for propulsion, sometimes in addition to airbreathing jet engines. Rocket planes can achieve much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft, but typicall ...

s. One would be a 10-ton 4-passenger plane that would fly to 100 km at Mach 6. The other would be a 100-ton 20-passenger plane that would fly to 130 km at Mach 8. They would be equipped with

liquid methane Methane ( , ) is a chemical compound with the chemical formula (one carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms). It is a group-14 hydride, the simplest alkane, and the main constituent of natural gas. The relative abundance of methane on Eart ...

liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an applica ...

rocket engines. The larger spaceplane would also be able to carry a strap-on

space rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syst ...

, making it function as the first stage of a two-stage to orbit space launch platform. That rocket would launch above the

Karman line Karman or Kármán is a Hungarian surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Harvey Karman (20th century), inventor of the Karman cannula * Janice Karman (born 1954), American film producer, record producer, singer, and voice artist * J� ...

, and lift 1–2 tons to LEO.

U.S. sanctions

In August 2020, the

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secu ...

released the names of “Communist Chinese military companies” operating directly or indirectly in the United States. CALT was included on the list. In November 2020, U.S. President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

issued an

executive order In the United States, an executive order is a directive by the president of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. The legal or constitutional basis for executive orders has multiple sources. Article Two of t ...

prohibiting U.S. companies and individuals owning shares in companies, including CALT, that the U.S. Department of Defense has listed as having links to the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the principal military force of the People's Republic of China and the armed wing of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The PLA consists of five service branches: the Ground Force, Navy, Air Force, ...

Subsidiaries

China Energine China Energine International (Holdings) Limited, or China Energine, is a Hong Kong-based and Cayman Islands-incorporated holding company. The controlling shareholder was Chinese state-owned mega-conglomerate China Aerospace Science and Technology ...

China Rocket China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

, which developed Jielong 1

References

External links

* {{authority control Space program of the People's Republic of China Rocket engine manufacturers of China Technology companies established in 1957 Research institutes in China 1957 establishments in China Government-owned companies of China Defence companies of China