The Ming dynasty ‘Guide to the Galaxy’: China names 2100 space plan after 1637 book

South China Morning PostCenter-RightEN 1 min read 100% complete by Shi HuangFebruary 3, 2026 at 08:26 AM

AI Summary

short article 1 min

China has launched a century-long national space resources development program, officially announced on January 29th. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) will lead the project, aiming to build an interplanetary fleet for resource exploration and mining. The plan includes operations on Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Mercury, and Venus. The project is named "Tiangong Kaiwu" after a 1637 encyclopedic book, "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature." This initiative reflects China's growing space ambitions, a development that some analysts, like former US defense secretary Jim Mattis, had predicted, albeit with skepticism from some academics.

Key Entities & Roles

Key Player Opposition Context

Saturn 60% Mercury 60% Venus 60% Mars 60% Jupiter 60% Donald Trump 60% Ming dynasty 70% United States 70% China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) 80% Jim Mattis ×280% China ×5100%

Keywords

space resources development 90% china 80% space exploration 70% interplanetary fleet 70% mining operations 60% resource exploration 60% ming dynasty 50% tiangong kaiwu 50% jim mattis 40%

Sentiment Analysis

Very Positive

Score: 0.80

Source Transparency

Source

South China Morning Post

Political Lean

Center-Right (0.50)

Far LeftCenterFar Right

Classification Confidence

85%

This article was automatically classified using rule-based analysis. The political bias score ranges from -1 (far left) to +1 (far right).

Topic Connections

Explore how the topics in this article connect to other news stories

No topic relationship data available yet. This graph will appear once topic relationships have been computed.

space resources development china space exploration interplanetary fleet mining operations resource exploration ming dynasty tiangong kaiwu jim mattis

Explore Full Topic Graph