Shanghai has unveiled plans to build a commercial-space cluster called “Rocket Star City” in the Minhang district, a 9.3 square-kilometre development intended to encompass research, manufacturing, launch support, operations and downstream applications. City officials presented the scheme at a commercial-space industry conference on 29 January and set phased targets for rapid scale-up: by 2027 the cluster should host a full industry chain for reusable rockets with the capacity to deliver roughly 80 launches and 200 satellites a year; by 2030 the goal is to expand to about 150 launches and 500 satellites annually and to reach an industry output on the order of RMB100 billion.
The project is framed as a municipal push to make Shanghai a national high ground for commercial space, drawing on local suppliers, financiers and service firms to create a tightly integrated ecosystem. Core tasks stated by planners include boosting production and launch capability for commercial rockets, raising aggregate rocket system performance, and building an integrated “satellite-rocket-field” chain that links manufacturing, launch, in-orbit operations and applications. The emphasis on reusable rockets and one-stop production-and-launch services echoes the business model that has transformed launch costs elsewhere.
For international readers, the scheme signals China’s accelerating effort to industrialise and commercialise space activities beyond state programmes. Over the past decade Beijing has loosened access for private companies, nurtured dozens of startups in rocket and small-satellite manufacturing, and encouraged local governments to establish cluster projects to attract investment and talent. Shanghai’s announcement follows similar initiatives in other coastal and inland provinces that aim to capture supply-chain work, downstream services and export opportunities for telecommunications, Earth observation and constellation services.
The plan is ambitious and poses practical questions. Minhang’s 9.3 km2 footprint is large for an urban district but small compared with traditional coastal launch sites; Shanghai therefore appears to be prioritising assembly, testing, manufacturing and operational control rather than hosting large orbital launches from site. Expanding to annual production of more than a hundred rockets will depend on access to launch ranges, regulatory approvals, environmental reviews and a skilled labour pool—bottlenecks that have tripped up other fast-moving projects.
Beyond economics, the announcement has strategic significance. A commercially vibrant launch and satellite industry would reduce China’s reliance on state-run launch infrastructure, accelerate deployment of civilian and commercial constellations, and deepen industrial ties across regions. At the same time the blurred boundary between commercial space firms and national security interests—already a feature of China’s military-civil fusion approach—will attract scrutiny abroad, where rapid growth in Chinese launch capacity can be read as enhancing broader geostrategic capabilities.
Investors and foreign partners will watch for the details: land allocation and zoning, incentives, compliance with export controls, and the local integration of testing and launch support. If Shanghai can stitch together supply chains, finance and favourable regulation, Rocket Star City could become an influential node in a global market that prizes low-cost, high-frequency access to orbit. If not, the project may produce factories and demonstrators without the launch cadence needed to sustain large satellite constellations or big service revenues.