Standing in front of a seemingly ordinary white aluminum-alloy frame, Xu Ying couldn’t help feeling proud when saying that it leverages a manufacturing method that is usually applied in car manufacturing, namely integrated die-casting technology.
The frame served as the main platform of the Lingxi-03 satellite. This commercial satellite was made by Beijing-based space unicorn firm GalaxySpace, in cooperation with Changsha Hefeng wear-resistant material company, a private enterprise located in central China’s Hunan Province, whose major business used to be the production of parts for railway equipment and automobiles.
“We put forward the design for the satellite, collaborated closely with Hefeng, and innovated together during the whole process,” said Xu, general manager of public affairs at GalaxySpace, as she revealed more about the development process.
Established in 2018, GalaxySpace is a leading satellite internet solution provider and satellite manufacturer in China. It was also crowned as the first unicorn company in commercial aerospace in the country.
The rapid growth of the company underlines the effectiveness of China’s push for developing the commercial space sector, as well as its broader policy efforts in fostering new quality productive forces.
The commercialization of China’s aerospace sector started in 2014, when the country’s State Council, in a guideline, encouraged private capital to participate in the construction of national civil space infrastructure.
In 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s economic planner, defined the scope of new infrastructure for the first time. Satellite internet was incorporated into the category of communication network infrastructure.
China’s commercial space industry has experienced rapid growth in recent years, emerging as one of the new quality productive forces. The sector has been fostering the industrial ecosystem via cooperation with other industries, injecting fresh impetus for high-quality development in the country.
Similar to the cooperation between GalaxySpace and Hefeng, leading private enterprises in the commercial space sector are driving the commercial space supply chain toward innovation by tapping into the country’s robust industrial manufacturing system.