appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Zhang Tong

China should not try to copy SpaceX despite the US company’s successful IPO, a leading economist has said.
The company raised US$75 billion when it went public on Friday and made its chief executive Elon Musk the world’s first trillionaire.
But Shen Yingchun, a professor at Beihang University, told Beijing Daily: “China does not need to and cannot copy SpaceX.”
She said “the strength of the US model is efficiency”, using the market to drive down costs and forcing companies to innovate.
Shen argued that China’s commercial space sector was taking a different approach by focusing on building up its satellite networks before trying to cut costs.
“The strength of the Chinese model is scale – using the national will to concentrate resources and systematically address issues such as infrastructure, setting standards and risk sharing, where markets typically fail,” Shen said.
She said that once this infrastructure was in place, the country’s space industry would have the chance to “make a big leap forward” in areas such as the development of smart cities and the low-altitude economy.
However, China is competing with other countries for low-Earth orbit slots for its satellites. These must be approved by the International Telecommunication Union on a first-come, first-served basis.
In December, it applied for slots for 203,000 more satellites across 14 constellations – the largest application of its kind.
However, the union’s rules require China to fill at least 10 per cent of these slots within nine years.
State broadcaster CCTV recently described the race to build up satellite infrastructure as “a strategic battle we must win” after the number of satellites in the Qianfan constellation passed the 200 mark.


The network, which was established in 2024 as a rival to SpaceX’s Starlink, will eventually have more than 15,000 satellites in orbit.
Shen said the race to build up satellite networks had entered a “white-hot stage”.
She added: “The focus of competition is shifting from ‘who can get to space’ to ‘who can occupy space infrastructure more economically and at larger scale’.”
Shen also highlighted the economic potential of space tourism, saying the sector was still in its “early exploratory stage, and the high cost had made it the exclusive domain of a handful of billionaires”.
But she said that just as air travel had once been reserved for the very richest in society, a broader range of people might be able to experience space travel in future.
Shen cited the example of Beijing InterstellOr Human Spaceflight Technology, a start-up that is planning to send China’s first space tourists into orbit by 2028.


China tests first practical submarine solar power plant at 10 metres depth in the open sea

Rare earth exposure can triple low birthweight risk: Chinese study

China must enforce high standards of integrity for scientists

Is China’s fabled Empress Dowager Huayang buried near an airport? A study says yes

Science

Why SpaceX may not be a model for Chinese companies to copy

SpaceX employees celebrate the firm’s record-breaking IPO in New York on Friday. Photo: AFP

China begins large-scale delivery of gallium chips for space-ground 6G network

Chips made from gallium nitride (GaN) are smaller and more powerful than silicon-based semiconductors. Photo: Shutterstock 

Chinese astronauts land safely in former top secret nuclear missile test site

One of the astronauts exits the Shenzhou-22 spaceship’s return capsule after it touched down at the Dongfeng landing site on May 29. Photo: Xinhua

News

China

A leading economist argued the country’s space industry could take a ‘big leap forward’ by building up its satellite infrastructure


A leading economist argued the country’s space industry could take a ‘big leap forward’ by building up its satellite infrastructure.


Why SpaceX may not be a model for Chinese companies to copy

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}A leading economist argued the country’s space industry could take a ‘big leap forward’ by building up its satellite infrastructure

A leading economist argued the country’s space industry could take a ‘big leap forward’ by building up its satellite infrastructure