Hainan betting on Wenchang spaceport

Hainan province aims to grow its commercial space sector revenue to 50 billion yuan ($7.5 billion) by 2030, according to the province's 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for high-tech industry development.

The plan extends beyond rocket launches. Zheng Ni, director of the basic research and major special projects department at the Hainan Provincial Department of Science and Technology, said Wenchang's commercial space layout follows a "spaceport-driven industry and industry-city integration" model, building a full-chain cluster covering commercial launches, rocket and satellite manufacturing, and satellite applications.

Zheng said the province coordinates innovation resources with Wenchang International Aerospace City as the core carrier, advancing the coordinated development of rocket, satellite and data chains, making commercial space a key driver of Hainan's "reaching for the sky" strategy.

Wenchang is the only spaceport city in China that combines low-latitude and coastal launch advantages. Its location allows rockets to exploit greater inertial centrifugal force during ascent, saving propellant, while being on the coast facilitates recovery and debris landing. That combination is highly coveted and forms an important foundation for Hainan's rapid commercial space growth.

Low-latitude launches near the equator require far less energy to take a spacecraft from surface level to an equatorial, geostationary orbit.

The Hainan Commercial Aerospace Launch Site in Wenchang completed its first successful launch on Nov 30, 2024, filling a gap in China's commercial space infrastructure and expanding the country's launch capacity.

Zhang Xiaojun, deputy general manager of Wenchang Space Launch Support Co, described the site's rapid growth — nine launches in its second year, 20 planned this year with 14 completed so far, and more than 30 planned for next year.

As China's first commercial spaceport, the site has put its first two pads into operation. Pad 2 uses a mobile launch platform, with standardized universal launch device, allowing it to support more than 20 types of Chinese rockets, and complete launch preparations in as little as 66 hours.

With launch demand rising, construction of pads 3 and 4 in the second phase is in its final stages, with the aim of achieving launch capability by year-end. Once all four pads are operational, the site will have a combined annual launch capacity of about 60 rockets.

The surge in launch schedules is driven largely by the dense deployment of China's low-orbit satellite internet constellations. Maturing commercial rockets are also adding to demand, forcing the spaceport to accelerate and expand.

As of October 2026, Wenchang International Aerospace City had attracted 3,336 companies, including 673 in the space sector, according to the city's administration.

Manufacturing is also expanding, with the aim of achieving "made in Wenchang, launched from Wenchang".

The first phase of iSpace's reusable rocket assembly, testing and refurbishment plant — China's first such facility — has opened. Wenchang's satellite megafactory has completed its production line and entered trial production, with its first satellite scheduled to roll off the line by year-end.

Beyond launches and manufacturing, Wenchang is working to process and commercialize the massive amounts of data transmitted by satellites. At the Wenchang Aerospace Supercomputing Center, which began operating in 2023, large screens display remote sensing satellite images refreshed block by block. The center supports the full data chain — collection, reception, storage, processing and application — and underpins the development of Wenchang's space big-data sector.