Commercial missions

In July, construction of a new space complex began not far from the Wenchang launch center. It aims to become China's first launch site dedicated to commercial missions.

The Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site is a joint venture between the Hainan government and three State-owned space conglomerates. It is expected to tap the growing demand for launch infrastructure from private space enterprises.

"The existing government-run launch centers are well-developed, but they are too busy to handle the growing demand from the commercial space sector, and it is not uncommon for even a government-assigned mission to wait for an arrangement at those sites," said Hu Shengyun, a senior rocket designer at the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.

Two private companies — i-Space and Galactic Energy, both based in Beijing — have already succeeded in conducting orbital missions in which carrier rockets have transported spacecraft into space orbits.

Meanwhile, the leader in the private rocket sphere, Galactic Energy, has conducted four successful launches using its Ceres 1 solid-propellant rocket.

According to Xia Dongkun, a vice-president at Galactic Energy, the company's engineers are producing components for several new Ceres 1 rockets, while its designers are developing the Pallas 1, a larger, reusable liquid-propellant rocket model.