The Beijing "Rocket Street" project is entering the hand-over and commissioning phase, according to a statement from the Beijing Economic Technological Development Area (Beijing E-Town). The project will become the country's first experimental research-and-production base for commercial aerospace development. Located in Yizhuang in southeastern Beijing, the project covers 145,000 square meters of floor area. It will include four major functional zones, covering a generic technology platform, innovation center, high-end manufacturing center, and an exhibition and mission control center. The project will provide a dozen shared services, including rocket and satellite R&D and testing, intelligent manufacturing, and integrated space-air-ground mission control, matching the full industrial-chain needs of commercial spaceflight development, said the statement.
The innovation center and the high-end manufacturing center of the project are not conventional workshops, but specialized heavy-duty workshops boasting a clear height of 7.9 meters with a load-bearing capacity of 3 tons on the first floor, while floors above the second level have a clear height of 5.4 meters and a load-bearing capacity of 1 ton. These specifications are designed to meet the research and production requirements of large aerospace systems such as rockets, supporting enterprises engaged in system design, key components, control systems, satellite terminal manufacturing, as well as related R&D, manufacturing and office functions, the statement read.
Commercial aerospace is a pillar industry in Beijing E-Town, and has already attracted more than 200 related enterprises. The commercial rocket companies here account for 75% of the national total, forming a complete industrial chain covering launch vehicles, satellite manufacturing, aerospace new materials, and space technology applications.
In 2025, rockets developed by companies from Beijing E-Town carried out 24 successful launches, placing more than 160 satellites into orbit. The aerospace sector generated over CNY30 billion in revenue in 2025, the Global Times reports.
In related news, the China Daily adds that Galactic Energy, a private rocket maker in Beijing, conducted the sixth sea-based launch of its Ceres 1 carrier rocket from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea off the coast of Shandong, marking the first private space mission in China in 2026. The launch sent four satellites into a low-earth orbit about 850 kilometers above earth. The satellites were built by Guodian Gaoke, a Beijing-based private satellite operator, for its Tianqi network, which now has 41 satellites and global coverage after the latest launch. To date, 21 of the rocket’s 23 flights have been successful, placing 89 commercial satellites into orbit.
