China’s southern island province of Hainan is accelerating the preparations for building its first satellite “super factory”.
The Hainan satellite super factory project at the Wenchang International Space City Administration is in its final demonstration stage after five months of preparation. The project involves over 30 leading experts in the sector.
“Those who engaged in the discussion were predominantly esteemed experts specialized in the commercial spaceflight sector. They debated on topics such as building super factories, production lines, manufacturing, and conventional satellites, as well as what should we do to guarantee the completion of launch missions on a large scale in the future,” said Zhang Chenghao, director of the Institutional Innovation Department of the Wenchang International Space City Administration.
A satellite super factory is a large-scale manufacturing facility designed for mass production of satellites, similar to the automotive industry’s production approach. According to experts, this model is expected to drive down costs and increase the quantity of satellites manufactured.
“This factory is different from those developing satellites in the past. It is mainly characterized by batch production. Its annual output can reach around 1,000 satellites,” said Liu Botao, chief engineer of fixed assets construction from the Beijing Institute of Satellite Environmental Engineering.
Traditional satellite manufacturing follows a single-piece production approach, which is costly and limited to specific sectors. However, in the commercial aerospace industry, production capacity and cost are closely linked.
“We have introduced companies with more flexible systems and more flexible innovation models to participate in the traditional satellite development industry. With the innovation of models and the introduction of capital, the cost of satellites will drop significantly,” said Ma Hailong, deputy chief technologist from the satellite equipment research institute of the 8th Aerospace Academy.
Experts predict that implementing “cost reduction and quantity increment” in Wenchang will deliver optimized iteration.
“Previously, satellites were built all over the country. After being shipped to Hainan, they need to be unpacked and tested before launching. The significance of building a super factory in Hainan is to launch them immediately after leaving the factory. The launching process will be shortened,” said Zhang.