MinoSpace

Chinese satellite developer and manufacturer

Beijing Minospace
Technology Company Ltd.

Native name

| 北京微纳星空科技股份有限公司

Romanized name

| Běijīng Wēinà Xīngkōng Kējì Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī
Industry| Space technology
Founded| August 7, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-08-07) in Beijing, China
Headquarters|

Beijing

China

Website| www.minospace.cn

MinoSpace (Chinese: 微纳星空; pinyin: Wēinà Xīngkōng) is a major Chinese satellite technology research, development, and manufacturing firm based in the country's capital, Beijing.

Established three years after the Chinese State Council opened the space technology market to commercial participation, MinoSpace has developed and launched over two dozen remote sensing and communications satellites.

## Name

[edit]

MinoSpace, variably written as 'Mino Space', is formally known as Beijing Weina Star Technology Company Ltd. (北京微纳星空科技股份有限公司; Běijīng Wēinà Xīngkōng Kējì Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī).[1][2]

The first word of the company's name, 'Mino', is sometimes left untranslated in English publications, using instead the pinyin romanization of the Chinese words 微; wēi and 纳; nà, which translate to 'micro' and 'nano', respectively. Combining these two characters to form the company's Chinese name (微纳; Wēinà), the English name 'Mino' is derived from a portmanteau of 'micro' and 'nano' into 'Mino'. The word 'Space' in the company's name is a translation of the Chinese compound (two-character) word for space, 星空; xīngkōng, which is built from the characters 星; xīng; 'star' and 空; kōng; 'sky'. At times, this portion of the company's name has been translated as 'Star' instead of 'Space'.

## History

[edit]

### Background

[edit]

Historically, the Chinese space program has been exclusively state-administered and eschewed privatization of space technology development.[3][4][5] Following the originally-espoused communist ideals of the post-Civil War era of leadership under Mao Zedong, the newly-communist People's Republic of China actively fought against technological innovation, including within the Chinese space program.[6][7][8]

In 2014, the National Development and Reform Commission of the PRC's State Council published Document 60 (titled Guiding Opinions of the State Council on Innovating the Investment and Financing Mechanisms in Key Areas and Encouraging Social Investment) which officially opened the door to the 'first generation' of commercial Chinese space companies. Among the early commercial satellite manufacturers were the companies Commsat, CGSTL, and Space-OK.[9][10][11]

Bolstered by Document 60 and further encouraged by the government, the previously absent investments in Chinese commercial space firms began to grow.[9][11]

### Establishment

[edit]

As the private market for space companies entered its second generation, MinoSpace was founded on 7 August 2017 and established its headquarters in the Yongfeng Industrial Base, Haidian District, in the northwest area of Beijing city. Each of the company's founders came from the government sector and sought to bring the exclusively state-dominated satellite manufacture industry to the commercial sector.[12]

MinoSpace's founders included Gao Enyu (高恩宇) and Wu Shufan (吴树范). Gao had previously in the design department of for the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a major state-owned civil-military launch vehicle manufacturer under the larger China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), and is best known for manufacturing the Long March series of rockets. Gao left CALT after two years and began work for the Communications Satellite Division (通信卫星事业部) of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) as chief designer of communications satellites. Finally, in August 2017, Gao departed CAST to cofound MinoSpace.[13]

Co-founder Wu Shufan spent 17 years as a researcher and senior engineer at European institutions to include the Technical University of Braunschweig in Germany, Delt University of Technology in the Netherlands, the University of Surrey's Space Center in the United Kingdom, and at the European Space Agency's Technology Research Center. In 2013, Wu returned to China from Europe and began work as the chief engineer in Microsatellite Engineering Center of the Chinese Academy of Science (CAS).[13]

## Operations

[edit]

Just over a year after its establishment, the first satellite manufactured by MinoSpace was launched on 27 October 2018. The Future-1 (Welai-1) small satellite was based on MinoSpace's MN10 1.5U CubeSat and carried both two science experiments and a remote sensor for China Central Television (CCTV). Aboard the maidan launch of the Lhuque-1 rocket designed by LandSpace from Jiuquan SLC, the satellite failed to reach its intended sun-synchronous low earth orbit (LEO) and the project was declared a failure, though it did mark the first attempt to launch a satellite by a private Chinese space company.[14] The second launch of a MinoSpace satellite occurred two days later on 29 October aboard a Long March 2C rocket at JSLC.[12]

On 20 November 2018, MinoSpace announced that it had obtained its Series A financing.[12]

### Cyberattack by Anonymous

[edit]

In response to allegations of a Chinese government disinformation campaign waged through Wikipedia edit warring, members of the hacktivist collective group Anonymous claimed to have compromised various webpages on the MinoSpace website, as well as the official website of the Chinese Ministry of Emergency Management in November 2022. The vandalized pages included images of then-President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen, the Taiwanese flag, cartoons of Winnie the Pooh (mocking Xi Jinping), and the slogans "Down with Xi Jinping" and "Restore the ROC".[15]

## Products

[edit]

MinoSpace offers three categories of products, satellite platforms, satellite communication (SATCOM) ground station equipment, and satellite components.[12]

### Satellite platforms

[edit]

Model  | Designation  | Mass (kg)  | Function

|
|
|

6U  | CubeSat | 10  | Low-resolution remote sensing, data acquisition
MN10  | Nanosatellite | 10  | Low-resolution remote sensing, data acquisition
MN10A  | Microsatellite | 30  | Medium-resolution remote sensing
MN50  | Microsatellite | 50  | Medium or wide-resolution remote sensing
MN100  | Small satellite | 100  | Remote sensing, communication, IoT, navigation
MN200  | Small satellite | 200  | High-resolution remote sensing
MN200S  | Small satellite | 200  | High-resolution remote sensing
MN1000  | High-orbit satellite  | 1000  | Communication

### SATCOM

[edit]

MinoSpace also produces a Ku and Ka-band very-small-aperture terminal (VSAT), a portable telemetry tracking and command (TT&C) ground station, and a three-mode data communication terminal that interacts with 4G, Thuraya, and Beidou communication networks.

### Satellite components

[edit]

MinoSpace manufactures and advertises UHF/VHF deployable antennas for satellites.

## Headquarters

[edit]

The company's headquarters are located in Beijing's Aerospace City, along with the Chinese state-owned aerospace giants, China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation (CASC) and China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (CASIC), Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the People's Liberation Army Aerospace Force's (PLAAF) Beijing Aerospace Flight Control Center (which oversees the entirety of the Chinese military and civilian space program), and a multitude of smaller aerospace companies.[11][12][16]

## Satellites

[edit]

Below is a list of MinoSpace satellite launches. All dates and times listed are in UTC.

List of MinoSat Satellite Launches  Date  | Time  | Satellite  | Function  | Launcher  | Launch site  | Orbit

|
|
|
|
|
|

27 October 2018  | 08:00  | Weilai 1  | Earth observation | Zhuque-1 | Jiuquan mobile launch  | Low Earth (SSO)
29 October 2018  | 00:43  | Unknown | Long March 2C | Jiuquan SLS-2  | Low Earth (SSO)
7 December 2018  | 04:12  | Weina-1  | Earth observation | Long March 2D | Jiuquan SLS-2  | Low Earth (SSO)
17 August 2019  | 04:11  | Xingshidai-5  | Earth observation | Jielong 1 | Jiuquan LS-95A  | Low Earth (SSO)
20 December 2019  | 03:22  | Tianyan 01 (Yizheng-1)  | Earth observation | Long March 4B | Taiyuan LC-9  | Low Earth (SSO)
Tianyan 02 | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
Wenlai-1R  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
6 November 2020  | 03:19  | Tianyan 05  | Earth observation | Long March 6 | Taiyuan LC-16  | Low Earth (SSO)
27 April 2021  | 03:20  | Taijing-2 01  | Earth observation | Long March 6 | Taiyuan LC-16  | Low Earth (SSO)
14 October 2021  | 10:51  | SSS-2A  | Education | Long March 2D | Taiyuan LC-9  | Low Earth (SSO)
27 February 2022  | 03:06  | Taijing-3 01  | Earth observation | Long March 8 | Wenchang LC-2  | Low Earth (SSO)
Taijing-4 01  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
Wenchang-1 01  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
Wenchang-1 02  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
Xidian-1  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
9 August 2022  | 04:11  | Taijing-1 01 (Pingan-3)  | Earth observation | Ceres-1 | Jiuquan LS-95A  | Low Earth (SSO)
Taijing-1 02 (Xingshidai 12)  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
13 January 2023  | 07:00  | Shiyan 22A | Technology demonstration | Long March 2D | Jiuquan SLS-2  | Low Earth
Shiyan 22B | Technology demonstration | Low Earth
10 August 2023  | 04:03  | Xiguang-1 01  | Earth observation | Ceres-1 | Jiuquan LS-95A  | Low Earth (SSO)
Xingchi-1B  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
23 January 2024  | 04:03  | Taijing-1-03  | Earth observation | Kinetica 1 | Jiuquan LS-130  | Low Earth (SSO)
Taijing-2-02  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
Taijing-2-04  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
Taijing-3-02  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)
Taijing-4-03  | Earth observation | Low Earth (SSO)

## References

[edit]

* Spaceflight portal
* China portal

1. ^ "Beijing Weina Star Technology Co. Ltd". Patsnap Discovery.
2. ^ "MinoSpace". Craft.co.
3. ^ Curcio, Blaine (1 June 2022). "A Rising Chinese Space Sector: Expectations vs Reality". Satellite Markets & Research.
4. ^ Patel, Neel V. (21 January 2021). "China's surging private space industry is out to challenge the US". MIT Technology Review.
5. ^ Zhang, Max; Yang, Xiaonan (January 2023). "China's emerging commercial space industry: Current developments, legislative challenges, and regulatory solutions". Acta Astronautica. 202: 9–16\. Bibcode:2023AcAau.202....9Z. doi:10.1016/j.actaastro.2022.10.011 – via Elsevier Science Direct.
6. ^ Tom Phillips (11 May 2016). "The Cultural Revolution". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
7. ^ Cao, Pu. "文革中的中科院：131位科学家被打倒，229人遭迫害致死". Chinese University of Hong Kong (in Chinese). Retrieved 23 February 2020.
8. ^ Wade, Mark. "FSW". Austronautix. Archived from the original on 16 January 2010. Retrieved 17 May 2022.
9. ^ a b Curcio, Blaine (2021). "China's ascending commercial space sector". Room Space Journal.
10. ^ Liu, Irina; Linck, Evan; Lal, Bhavya; Crane, Kieth W.; Han, Xueying; Colvin, Thomas J. (1 September 2019). "Commercial Space Policies and Drivers in China". Evaluation of China's Commercial Space Sector. Institute for Defense Analyses. pp. 11–26\. JSTOR resrep22872.5.
11. ^ a b c Deville Jean; Curcio, Blaine (29 September 2021). "Beijing: The Beating Heart of Chinese Space". Dongfang Hour.
12. ^ a b c d e "MinoSpace: About Us". MinoSpace (in Chinese).
13. ^ a b "卫星民企微纳星空创始人：卫星需求爆发已现端倪，技术是痛点" [Founder of Micro-Nano Star, a private satellite company: The explosion of demand for satellites has begun, and technology is the pain point]. The Paper (in Chinese). May 2018.
14. ^ Barbosa, Rui C. (27 October 2018). "Chinese commercial provider LandSpace launches Weilai-1 on a Zhuque-1 rockets – fails to make orbit". NASA Spaceflight.
15. ^ Chin, Jonathan (2 November 2022). "Anonymous claims hack of Chinese ministry site". Taipei Times.
16. ^ "中国人民解放军形成新型军兵种结构布局 - 中华人民共和国国防部". www.mod.gov.cn. Retrieved 25 April 2024.

40°04′30″N 116°14′27″E﻿ / ﻿40.074962°N 116.240926°E﻿ / 40.074962; 116.240926