China launches rental space telescope

The commitment of China and its emerging companies to the sharing economy policy has reached outer space, thanks to the initiative of a company that designs a telescope that can be rented by astronomy buffs.

"We want everyone to be able to access that technology because the satellites are very expensive and are beyond the reach of most people," Feng Yang, president of Chinese company Spacety, a nanosatellites manufacturer, told EFE.

The telescope will be launched into space on a satellite, and its functions can be controlled by users via its website, which will allow them to browse for images they want to obtain.

The company's objective is to bring space to ordinary people as well as to create opportunities for those interested in areas such as astronomy to investigate or simply to enjoy their passion without having to pay the high costs.

"At a dinner with my two friends who are astronomy enthusiasts, I realised that they always spent a lot of money on telescopes and that surprised me a lot. They spent a million yuan for a telescope ($A193,000)," he said.

After the conversation with his friends, he concluded that if he could put a telescope into space, in the style of a mini-Hubble, "the images that can be captured are going to be better."

According to Feng, this is the first company in the world that will introduce such a business model, since "Hubble belongs to the US government."

"There is no telescope that is open for everyone. With ours, anyone in the world can get to our website, control the telescope in space and take a look at wherever they want," he said.

Although the exact amount is currently unknown, the investment in the project is expected to be more than 10 million yuan.

This idea, the entrepreneur said, is in line with China's prominent interest in promoting the "sharing economy" policy, aimed at distributing resources of everyday things to reduce costs and allowing people to enjoy services that were previously unaffordable.