中國民營衛星企業謹慎前行

Roger Zhang rejects the title of China’s Elon Musk, bestowed on him by Chinese media.

張昌武(Roger Zhang)拒絕接受中國媒體授予他的稱號：中國的埃隆?馬斯克(Elon Musk)。

The chief executive of Landspace — one of the handful of Chinese start-ups building satellite-launching rockets — Mr Zhang prefers to operate quietly, out of the limelight.

這位藍箭(Landspace)首席執行官更喜歡低調運營，遠離聚光燈。該公司是中國爲數不多的建造衛星運載火箭的初創企業之一。

“Building this kind of technology is slow going. We do not want to unveil anything until we are absolutely sure it can work successfully,” he says.

他表示：“這種技術的積累是緩慢的。我們不想在絕對確定它能成功之前透露任何消息。”

In 2014, China formally announced it would allow private companies to build and launch satellites, unleashing a flood of Chinese entrepreneurs looking to tap into the $420bn global satellite industry. Yet these first-movers have proceeded cautiously, a stark contrast to the glitzy coverage sought out by US space start-ups such as Mr Musk’s SpaceX.

2014年，中國正式宣佈，將允許民營企業建造和發射衛星，這讓大量中國企業家躍躍欲試地想要進入4200億美元的全球衛星行業。然而，這些先行者一直謹慎推進，這與馬斯克的SpaceX等美國航天初創企業想要的搶眼的新聞報道形成鮮明對比。

Dozens of satellite-related companies have emerged over the past three years, but they are treading carefully, according to Lan Tianyi, who operates one of the country’s first private satellite consultancies, Ultimate Blue Nebula.

據中國首批民營衛星諮詢公司之一北京千域空天(Ultimate Blue Nebula)的首席執行官藍天翼介紹，過去3年出現了數十家衛星相關企業，但它們都行事謹慎。

“The whole aerospace industry used to be very secretive, because it was dominated by the government and military. [It] was not very popular among companies because it has a high risk of failure,” says Mr Lan.

他表示：“整個航天業過去行事非常隱祕，因爲它由政府和軍隊主導。（這一行）在企業中不是很受歡迎，因爲破產風險很高。”

Rather than seeking government or military clients, aerospace start-ups largely are vying for lucrative commercial satellite contracts. Once dominated by companies from the US and Russia, the commercial space is attracting newcomers from China and India jostling for a slice of the multibillion-dollar pie.

航天初創企業沒有尋求政府或軍方客戶，而是基本上在爭奪有利可圖的商業衛星合約。曾經被美國和俄羅斯公司霸佔的商業航天領域，正吸引來自中國和印度的新進入者，它們希望從這張鉅額營收的大餅中分得一小塊。

In China’s space sector, the number of orbital launches has increased since 2010, bringing the total number of satellites launched from the country in the past 50 years to about 190. Private companies say they plan to launch more than 20 satellites in each of the next two years. China has a 3 per cent share of the commercial space industry but is seeking to capture 10 per cent by 2020, according to state media.

在中國航天業，自2010年以來發射入軌的數量有所增多，使過去50年發射的衛星總數達到190顆左右。民營公司表示，它們計劃在未來兩年每年發射超過20顆衛星。據官方媒體稱，中國佔全球商業航天業3%的份額，但希望到2020年拿下10%。

China’s space entrepreneurs are primarily launching CubeSats — tiny satellites that are comparably cheap to make and can be launched en masse. They typically are used in universities for research purposes but also can be rapidly launched to support telecoms networks and rising demand for remote sensing and imaging.

中國航天企業家主要發射“立方體衛星”(CubeSat)，這種微型衛星的建造成本相對低廉，而且可大批發射。它們一般用於大學的研究用途，但也可以緊急發射，以支持電信網絡以及對遙感和遙感成像日益增長的需求。

With their lower launch costs, private satellite providers also are aiming to send up more sophisticated satellites to support telecoms systems that would rival networks run by western companies. Meanwhile, the government is developing the Beidou navigation system, pitching it as a Chinese alternative to the Global Positioning System (GPS) owned and operated by the US.

由於發射成本較低，民營衛星供應商還計劃發射更高級的衛星，以支持能夠抗衡西方公司運行的網絡的電信系統。與此同時，中國政府正在開發北斗導航系統，稱其可替代美國擁有和運行的全球定位系統(GPS)。

Commenting on the importance of self-contained, vertically independent communication networks, Keith Hayward, former head of research at the Royal Aeronautical Society in the UK, notes: “You’re not beholden to anybody to gain access to the system. You can configure the communication for military deployments and to encrypt upward and downward links to your satisfaction.”

英國皇家航空學會(Royal Aeronautical Society)前研究部門負責人基思?海沃德(Keith Hayward)在談到自成一體、垂直獨立的通信網絡的重要性時指出：“你接入這個系統不受制於任何人。你可以配置通信用於軍事部署並加密上行和下行鏈路，直到你滿意。”

While Chinese satellite providers have found numerous customers in the developing world, they have encountered pushback from western countries, particularly from the US government, which controls the export and import of satellites above a certain capacity.

儘管中國衛星提供商在發展中國家找到了很多客戶，但它們遭遇西方國家的阻力，尤其是美國政府，後者控制着某種能力以上的衛星的進出口。

In June, Canadian regulators came under fire for approving the sale of Norsat — a Canadian satellite company that provides services to many government bodies including the US defence department — to Shenzhen-based Hytera Communications.

今年6月，加拿大監管機構因批准將加拿大衛星公司諾賽特(Norsat)出售給總部位於深圳的海能達(Hytera Communications)而受到批評，諾賽特向很多政府機構提供服務，包括美國國防部。

“One thing I think outsiders get wrong is they always suspect Chinese space companies must have something to do with the military,” says Mr Yang Feng, the chief executive officer of satellite-maker Spacety. “However, we just want to make commercial technology like anyone else.” Spacety says all of its funding comes from private venture capital funds.

“我認爲外部人士搞錯的一點是他們總是認爲中國航天公司肯定與軍隊有關，”衛星製造商天儀研究院(Spacety)首席執行官楊峯表示，“然而，我們只是希望像其他人一樣生產商用技術。”天儀研究院表示，其所有資金都來自民營風投基金。

“I don’t think you can make a clear distinction between Chinese civil and military space,” says Mr Hayward. “The emphasis on Chinese space is how it serves the Chinese state.”

“我不認爲，你能把中國民用航天和軍事航天明顯區分開來，”海沃德表示，“中國航天事業的着重點是爲國家服務。”

Nearly all of China’s space start-ups are run by veterans of the country’s top military-affiliated research institutes and state aerospace companies. However, China’s space entrepreneurs insist their priority is commercial, not military.

中國幾乎所有航天初創企業都是由國內頂尖的軍方下屬研究所和國有航天企業的老將執掌的。然而，中國航天企業家堅稱，優先任務是商業，而非軍事。

“We took no intellectual property from the government. We brought only our minds,” says Mr Zhang of Landspace.

藍箭的張昌武表示：“我們沒有從政府那裏帶走知識產權。我們帶來的只有我們的頭腦。”

Space analysts point out, though, that Landspace’s rockets mirror Long March 11 rockets, designed by state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

然而，航天分析人士指出，藍箭的火箭與“長征11號”火箭類似，後者由國有的中國航天科技集團公司(China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)設計。

Moreover, the rapid development of China’s private space industry is part of the government’s push to integrate civilian and military co-operation in technology. The hope is that the more nimble private sector can develop technologies to support the country’s growing space programme, which aims to put a person on the moon by about 2030.

另外，中國民營航天業的快速發展是政府推動軍民兩用技術聯盟合作努力的一部分。政府希望更靈活的民營部門能夠開發相關技術，支持中國日益遠大的航天項目。中國計劃在2030年左右實現航天員登月。

“We can develop more experimental nanosatellite technology more quickly and cheaply than state companies,” says Spacety’s Mr Yang.

藍箭的張昌武表示：“相比國有企業，我們能夠以更快且成本更低廉的方式，開發更多試驗性納米衛星技術。”