New Rocket Model Fully Prepared for "Launch" – Multiple Positive Developments Continue to Ferment in Commercial Space

A series of new rocket models are ready to launch, promising to bring new momentum to the development of commercial spaceflight.

Shanghai Securities Journal reporters learned that the focus remains on the in-orbit deployment and recovery tests of reusable rockets. Breakthroughs in technology will strongly promote industry growth. Meanwhile, the narrative of the space economy continues to expand.

Breakthroughs in Reusable Technology Become Industry Focus

In early March, CAS Space and Deep Blue Aerospace updated their rocket launch plans successively. CAS Space’s reusable liquid carrier rocket “Lijian-2” is scheduled for its maiden flight in late March, carrying the initial prototype of China’s Qingzhou-1 cargo spacecraft. It will later undertake satellite internet networking and major national missions, with four launch projects already approved this year.

Deep Blue Aerospace’s “Nebula-1” first “in-orbit + reusable” rocket has been assembled at Wuxi base since last year and is now standing at a launch site in Shandong. The first launch will not only achieve in-orbit deployment but also attempt vertical recovery of the first stage.

Following the launch of China’s two reusable rockets, Zhuque-3 and Long March 12A, by the end of 2025, multiple types of reusable rockets’ in-orbit deployment and recovery tests this year have become industry’s most watched and critical progress.

Regarding the reasons, Wang Zijing, Assistant Director of Dongwu Securities Research Institute and Chief Computer Analyst, said:

First, the commercial space sector has faced a “more satellites than rockets” situation — despite numerous satellite deployment plans, rocket supply has lagged. Breakthroughs in reusable rockets could greatly ease the current supply-demand imbalance in terms of launch costs and frequency, laying a solid foundation for large-scale constellation deployment and subsequent commercial applications.

Second, technological breakthroughs will provide key prerequisites for the industry’s scale expansion. Once standardized technical solutions are established, they can rely on China’s strong manufacturing base for rapid replication and mass production, further driving the development of the upstream and downstream industrial chains of commercial space, and exerting broader economic impacts.

Finally, technological breakthroughs will attract more resources to the commercial space sector, especially encouraging increased support from primary and secondary markets, further promoting industry growth.

Acceleration of Space Economy Narratives

Alongside reusable rockets, the global competition for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite resources is heating up — early 2026, China and the US each applied for 200,000 and 1 million satellite orbit slots respectively.

“In fact, the concept of LEO satellites is not new,” said Li Hanjun, Co-Director of the Songjiang Intelligent Industry Technology Research Institute in Shanghai. As early as 1987, Motorola proposed building the world’s first commercial low Earth orbit satellite communication system — Iridium. “Today, the competition for orbital resources is driven by SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service, which proves its strategic importance and profitability potential. The company surpassed 10 million users last year, fully demonstrating the commercial prospects of low Earth orbit satellite networks.”

At the MWC 2026 World Mobile Communications Conference held in early March, SpaceX announced the launch of a new brand, Starlink Mobile, focusing on satellite direct-to-phone services, marking a strategic shift from tablet users to mobile phones. While tablet users need specialized devices or fixed terminals to access satellite networks, direct-to-phone technology could expand the user base to a massive scale of 4 billion terminals.

The space economy also has broader, grander narratives — space computing power, space tourism, space manufacturing, space mining… Scenes once only in science fiction could become reality, nurturing trillion-yuan-level future industry tracks.

Wang Zijing believes that among these tracks, space tourism and space computing are progressing steadily: China has attempted to launch computing satellites by 2025; by 2028, commercial crewed spaceflight may conduct its first flight.

As for space infrastructure or space mining, although more distant, the imagination space is even broader. Wang Zijing explained with space mining as an example: previously, the Long March series rockets carried Chang’e probes that successfully brought back lunar soil, which can be seen as a prototype of space mining. This indicates that the direction is not out of reach, but future breakthroughs in technology are still needed.

Multiple Catalysts to Strengthen Market Confidence

Currently, commercial spaceflight is experiencing multiple catalysts that will boost market confidence.

On the policy front, the 2026 government work report first proposed to “accelerate the development of satellite internet,” and listed aerospace as one of the emerging pillar industries. The 14th Five-Year Plan outlined to “improve civil space infrastructure, coordinate the construction of satellite communication, navigation, and remote sensing systems, and accelerate the deployment of low Earth orbit satellite networks.”

On the business front, Lu Xianqing, senior investment advisor at Huizheng Finance, said that the investment logic in commercial space has shifted from theme-driven to performance-driven validation. Currently, China’s commercial space launch costs have dropped significantly, and launch cycles have shortened, driving growth in component supply.

On the technological front, besides domestic new rocket models’ launches, SpaceX plans to launch Starship V3 in April. If successful, it will once again break the limits of reusable rockets, greatly boosting industry prospects.

On the capital side, according to industry estimates, leading domestic companies like LandSpace and CAS Space are already on the fast track to listing; SpaceX is expected to initiate an IPO mid-year, with a valuation potentially reaching $1.5 trillion. “These developments will not only attract global capital to the aerospace sector but also significantly raise the valuation center of related A-share companies,” Wang Zijing said.