Development of the station is part of more than 40 planned Chinese rocket launches this year. It is the country’s highest ever amount, outlining its ambitions to dominate space. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) revealed the target at a meeting on January 4, according to Space News. Last year, the nation conducted 39 launches, a stark contrast to their space exploration output prior to 2007. Until then, they had never launched more than 10 times in one calendar year. Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, told state broadcaster CCTV: “We firmly believe that it will play a major role in the forefront of scientific exploration of humanity and also in the development of our space technology.”