Base 25 Taiyuan Space Facility
38°48'N 115°00'E

The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center was commissioned for sun-synchronous missions and thus supports all CZ-4 launches. Taiyuan is located southwest of Beijing [at 37°30'N 112°36'E]. Confusingly, this facility is also designated by US Space Command as the Wuzhai Missile and Space Test Center, despite the fact that the town of Wuzhai is located some considerable distance from the launch facility [38.91°N 111.84°E] . Even greater confusion is caused by the fact that the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) itself is said to be is situated in Kelan County [38°48'N 115°00'E], the northwest part of Shanxi Province, some 280km away from Taiyuan City [where the facility is headquartered].

The Wuzhai Missile and Space Test Center, located some 250 miles southwest of Beijing, is a major launch site for ICBMs and overland Submarine-Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) tests. At least seven flight tests of the DF-5 ICBM were conducted from the Wuzhai ICBM missile test facility between 07 January 1979 and 07 December 1981. The DF-31 ICBM is expected to be deployed around the turn of the century, based on the completion of silo construction at the Wuzhai Missile and Space Test Center. The missile was observed on a launch pad at Wuzhai in mid-October 1997, and a flight test was conducted soon thereafter.

Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) is situated in Kelan County, the northwest part of Shanxi Province, 280km away from Taiyuan City. The geographical location of the launch complex is 115.0 degrees East and 38.8 degrees North. The head office of the launch center is located in Taiyuan City. TSLC has two feeder railway that connect with Ningwu-Kelan railway, which crosses the launch center and joins Northern Tongtu railway at Ningpu County. Highways lead to all TSLC sites and subordinate station. Taiyuan Airport is 300km away from the launch site and can accept jumbo aircraft.

TSLC is primarily used to launch meteorological satellites, earth resource satellites and scientific satellite on Long March launch vehicles. It consists of the Technical Center, the Mission Command and control Center. TT&C system, communications system and necessary technical and logistic support system. Geographically, TSLC is located in a temperate zone, with an elevation of 1,400km to 1,900km above sea level. It is cool in summer, and the average temperature is approximately 5°.

The city of Taiyuan, which is the capital of Shanxi Province, lies on the Fenhe river in the heart of the province and in the northern part of the Taiyuan Basin. The city, with a population of more than 2.2 million, is one of the important industrial centers in China. Taiyuan is a nationally important industrial base. Early in the first Five-year Plan period, it was a key point for the country's investment. Among the prominent enterprises are Taiyuan Iron and Steel Company, a national base for special steels, Gujiao Mining Area, a main coke base, Taiyuan Chemical Industrial Company, a base for heavy and chemical industries, Taiyuan Heavy Machinery Plant, a heavy machine tool base, Taiyuan Mining Machinery Plant and a host of enterprises of military industries.

The Taiyuan open-up area for New and High Technology industry, situated in the south of Taiyuan City, consisting of Wu Cheng Distyrict, Xia Yuan Xiao Qu District and the areas in between, is only one that is up to the state level in Shanxi. Its area is 8 sq. km surrounded by universities, science and research institute with many technical workers and good basic city facilities. The Taiyuan Opening-up Area for Economic Technology, situated in the east of Xiao Dian Town and 10km southward from Taiyuan area, will be 9.6 sq. km.

Photographic Evaluation Report

High resolution imagery was initially available only from declassified CORONA imagery. As of 01 May 2000 no Russian 2-meter resolution KVR-1000 imagery was available via the SPIN-2 service on TerraServer, nor was any archival Space Imaging IKONOS 1-meter imagery available on the CARTERRAT Archive. A pair of IRS-1D 5-meter PAN images acquired on 28 January 2000 may include this facility.