China plans to achieve one-hour global arrival and flight-based ground-to-orbit and orbit-to-orbit space transportation by 2045 on the basis of a comprehensive upgrade of the performance of new-generation launch vehicles, according to the Xinhua News Agency.
The plan was revealed in a speech at the opening of the 2020 China Aerospace Conference by Bao Weimin, director of the Science and Technology Commission of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, in Fuzhou on September 18.
In his speech on "Development and Consideration of Flight-based Space Transportation System", he said the goal of flight-based space transportation will be achieved in three stages.
The initial construction stage will be carried out before 2025, with the main task being to break through key technologies and form a pilot trial system.
The initial completion of the system will be achieved by 2035, with hundreds of total flights, thousands of tons of cargo and thousands of passenger trips per year.
By 2045, the target system will be fully completed, with on-demand launches, total annual flights of thousands of volumes, total cargo of thousands of tons, and total passenger transport of more than 10,000 passengers.
He also said that by then China's flight-based space transportation will form a systematic capability and large-scale industry, and the overall performance level will reach the world's first class.
A Chinese flight-based aerospace transport system will be formed to meet the needs of China's major space missions and commercial operations, he said.
