China to offer recoverable satellites-as-a-service

China’s told the world it plans to get into the recoverable satellite business.

The nation’s launched and recovered satellites since the 1960s. Early missions may have been surveillance efforts that returned films to Earth to provide photographic reconnaissance. More recent missions have allowed experiments to be conducted in microgravity, an environment China feels is a fine place to grow seeds that produce hardier plants than their terra-bound cousins.

China Academy of Space Technology (CAST) president Zhang Hongtai last week told China Central Television that "We plan to upgrade this technology in order to satisfy the needs of commercial users." State-owned organ Xinhua said Zhang added his opinion that “recoverable satellites will be able to play an important role in space biology, space medicine and space scientific experiments.”