China is rapidly building a broad and diverse satellite manufacturing base, capable of producing thousands of devices annually, however, faces limited launch opportunities and uncertain demand.
The Chinese company Hello Space conducted a study and calculated at least 55 satellite manufacturing plants: 36 already working, 16 are under construction, and three more are in the planning stage. According to her analysis, production capacity of operating enterprises is
4050 satellites per year, and future plants will add more 3310 units. The planned capacity will support government and commercial plans in such areas, as remote sensing of the Earth, Internet of things, meteorology, connecting directly to smartphones and improving navigation. There are also initial plans for orbital computing groups and two new groups, submitted to the International Telecommunication Union (THAT), which will be calculated together 200 000 satellites.
Despite the available satellite production capacity, the number of devices, which are actually produced and put into orbit, is lower. Independent monitoring by space exploration expert and one of the most influential historians of the space age, Jonathan McDowell, showed, that China in 2025 year launched 371 the satellite is less 10 % from the current online power. This gap is explained by launch limitations, and uncertainty about applications and revenue models.
As of today, China has a fleet of older hypergolic and newer disposable cryogenic and kerosene Long March missiles, as well as numerous small solid-propellant rockets in the commercial sector. A large number of new Long March reusable rockets and commercial launch vehicles have recently launched or are close to launch. This will allow China to significantly increase the pace of launches and the total mass of the payload in orbit in the near future. in addition, expansion of existing spaceports and infrastructure is ongoing, and new spaceports are also planned.
In March, China's central government designated commercial space as an "emerging core industry", which means strong political support, government funding and industrial development programs. These steps testify, that China is preparing to rapidly increase the deployment of satellites, has just overcome technical and commercial limitations.
Source: https://spacenews.com