Private space company in China will produce 10 rockets annually

People's Daily Online

(People's Daily Online) 13:26, April 26, 2018

China's private space company Landspace recently announced plans to expand its general assembly factory. After expansion, the factory will be able to produce up to 200 rocket engines and 10 rockets every year, thepaper.cn reported.

The expansion is scheduled to be completed in the third quarter of this year, 2018. According to the plan, a research and testing facility for liquid propellant engines and carrier rockets will be established in the company's manufacturing base, located in Huzhou, eastern China's Zhejiang province.

After the expansion, Landspace will be able to independently develop and produce methane rocket engines, becoming the first private company in China to realize mass production of such engines. In recent years, the private sector has played an increasingly important role in the commercial space industry. Between 2013 and 2016, the SpaceX expanded its market share from 13% to 37%.

China's first joint-venture investment bank China International Capital Corporation Limited believes that the domestic Chinese market will also be broadened, given the sound development at both supply and demand ends of the commercial space industry.