Wuhan Becomes Satellite Valley, Realizing China's 2030 Space Force Ambition

JAKARTA - The central Chinese city of Wuhan has pledged to create a 100 billion yuan (Rp 225 trillion) space industry by 2025. The city will be referred to as China's "satellite valley", and joins other cities tasked with developing the sector. the.

Wuhan is offering companies up to 50 million yuan (Rp 112 trillion) in financial incentives. Each of these incentives is in projects related to the manufacture of satellites, rockets and spacecraft. This confirmation was announced by the city government on Wednesday, March 16.

The numbers for inland cities are modest compared to the ambitious plans outlined by other affluent coastal cities. But the effort suggests a deeper push by China to become a major space power by 2030.

China envisions a large constellation of commercial satellites that could offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking and shipping coal.

The Wuhan city government will encourage companies to use locally sourced equipment, software and services.

If a company uses local products in more than 10% of the production of high-orbiting and low-orbiting satellites and spacecraft, then the project will receive a financial incentive of up to 15 million yuan.

If local products reach more than 30%, the company will get up to 50 million yuan.

Last year, the technology city of Shenzhen in southern Guangdong province offered incentives of up to 300 million yuan for each project related to satellite development and related industrial applications.

China is also planning a new commercial spaceport in the southern island province of Hainan. In the eastern port city of Ningbo in Zhejiang province, China is separately building its fifth rocket launch site.

This is certainly different from Indonesia, which is still thinking about how to make an industrial area for manufacturing development through a special industrial area, China has built Wuhan as a special space area.