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China launches satellite ‘super factory’ in bid to rival Elon Musk’s Starlink

The facility features a ‘factory-to-launch’ pipeline, expected to make it faster and cheaper to build low Earth orbit constellations

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China’s first comprehensive factory dedicated to the assembly, testing and reuse of carrier rockets, in south China’s coastal city of Wenchang. Photo: People’s Daily
Luna Sunin Beijing
China is about to switch on a satellite “super factory” able to produce 1,000 units annually – a major step in Beijing’s race to build low Earth orbit constellations as part of its ambition to one day rival Elon Musk’s Starlink.

The facility, located inside the Wenchang spaceport in China’s southernmost Hainan province, integrates a “factory-to-launch” pipeline that assembles, tests and pairs satellites with rockets. This makes it the only base of its kind in the country and Asia’s largest satellite manufacturing hub, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.

The new factory comes amid a boom in China’s commercial space sector. Backed by supportive policies, a surge in private rocket launches and even early visions of space tourism, Beijing is accelerating its efforts to compete with the US.

The facility’s main advantage lies in the speed of its pipeline, which could significantly reduce costs, Xinhua reported. Satellites could move from final assembly to launch pads in a matter of hours instead of days, thanks to its proximity to the Wenchang and Hainan commercial launch sites, both just a few kilometres away.

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