China’s space sector is on a roll as it makes gains that will likely narrow the satellite gap with the US.
Most notably, it has successfully returned a rocket to a terrestrial landing site – a breakthrough that will speed up and lower the cost of future satellite launches.
Privately-owned LandSpace last week captured the first stage of its Zhu-Que 3 rocket on a landing pad in Gansu, northwest China, about 390 kilometers away from its launch site – joining SpaceX and Blue Origin as the only companies to have done so.
It’s still a long way from being directly competitive with SpaceX, with its rocket capable of lifting 14.2 tons into LEO compared to the Falcon 9’s 22.8 tons.
Plus, at this stage, it’s not clear what sort of launch frequency it will be able to sustain.
But this success follows another in early July in which state-owned CASC retrieved the first stage of a Long March-10B from a seaborne platform off China’s southern coast.
Unlike SpaceX rockets which spring their own landing legs, the Chinese vehicle – part of China’s flagship rocket series – was caught by a hook and net system.
Growing confidence
On the satellite side, China’s number-one LEOsat firm Shanghai Space Satellite Technology (SSST) (also known as SpaceSail) has just received a 7 billion Chinese yuan (US$1 billion) capital boost, valuing the company at $7.4 billion.
The vast bulk of the funds come from the state-backed National Strategic Investment Fund II, supported by 24 enterprises, which invested RMB5.8 billion.
It is a sign of growing institutional confidence in SSST, one of several Chinese LEOsat firms with plans to build big constellations in space.
They are starting from a long way back – SSST and its major domestic rival Guowang between them have about 400 satellites in orbit, compared with Starlink’s 11,000.
But the launch frequency has been accelerating. SSST launched on successive days early in July, carrying a payload of 18 and 20 satellites respectively to take its total to 238.
It put its first LEOsats into orbit in August 2024, with a goal to eventually build a 15,000-satellite constellation.
Guowang, owned by China Satellite Network Group, a fully state-owned business, has a different mission. While it aims to launch nearly 13,000 satellites eventually, its priority is China’s future “air-space-ground” configuration, integrating with 5G-A and 6G.
It has disclosed little about its launch progress, but was reported to have lifted 136 satellites into orbit by the end of 2025.
The recent rocket breakthroughs underscore the conclusions of a new CSIS report, which says China’s space sector is advancing at breakneck speed.
Since opening parts of the industry to private investment in 2014, the commercial space ecosystem has expanded from fewer than a dozen firms to around 600, the report said.
While many are described as private enterprise companies, “they operate within a distinctly Chinese model in which commercial activity remains closely aligned with state priorities,” it states.
The sector faces considerable technical and market headwinds, CSIS says, but it believes China is leveraging its space capabilities “to create a global information and communications architecture” that could reshape digital infrastructure worldwide.
