Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co will expand its Wenchang site from two to four launch pads and step up work on rocket recovery, positioning the complex as a competitive commercial space hub.
By Wang Zhuoqiong and Chen Bowen – China Daily
The company says the project has moved from construction to operations in just over two years. Dual-pad missions took place in late 2024 and early 2025, with a “two launches in five days” sequence this summer.
Phase II, which started in January, will add Pads 3 and 4 plus a new technical area and telemetry station by end-2026. Capacity is projected at more than 60 launches a year, with each pad able to fly roughly every 10 days, potentially weekly, according to chairman Yang Tianliang.
A “three-horizontal” process for transport, testing and launch has cut rocket preparation time from about 20 to 10 days and will trim staffing to about 100 people per pad. The site’s latitude offers a 10–15% payload lift, while the coastal location supports sea transport and safe recovery corridors.
The Hainan Free Trade Port’s zero-tariff and low-tax regime is being leveraged to build an ecosystem spanning rockets, satellites, data services and space tourism. Rocket recovery is a priority: with first-stage manufacturing making up more than 70% of launch cost, the firm plans a sea-recovery vessel to support a “launch-recover-reuse” model for domestic providers.
Partnerships include work with the national deep space laboratory on four new centres for payload integration, deep-space research, industrial coordination and international exchange, alongside projects with Tsinghua University.
