The Beijing Equity Exchange (hereinafter referred to as: Beijing Stock Exchange) disclosed the equity transaction application of Aerospace Science and Industry Rocket Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Science and Technology Rockets), and China’s first commercial rocket company was officially listed for trading.
Today let’s talk about: Was China’s first commercial rocket company “sold”?
01
Aerospace Sanjiang transfer
30.66% shares of Kegong Rockets
On October 9, 2025, the Beijing Stock Exchange posted an equity transaction announcement, showing that China Aerospace Sanjiang Group Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Aerospace Sanjiang) applied to sell 30.66% of the equity of Science and Technology Rockets. According to the announcement, Aerospace Sanjiang currently holds 56.4347% of the shares of Scitech Rocket. After the transaction is completed, Aerospace Sanjiang will no longer be the largest shareholder of Scitech Rocket.
Kegong Rockets was registered and established in Wuhan on February 16, 2016. It is located at No. 216 Xinggu Avenue, Xinzhou District, Wuhan City, Hubei Province. It is the first professional rocket company in China to carry out research, development and application of business models. It mainly promotes the commercial operation of the “Kuaizhou series” launch vehicles.
The two launch vehicles currently in service in the Kuaizhou series are both small solid rockets, namely Kuaizhou-1A and Kuaizhou-11. in:
Kuaizhou No. 1A has a diameter of 1.4 meters and a take-off mass of 30 tons. It adopts a tandem layout of three-stage solid + final stage liquid. The upgraded version of Kuaizhou-1A, which successfully made its first flight on December 4, 2024, has a LEO carrying capacity of 450 kilograms and a 700-kilometer SSO carrying capacity of more than 300 kilograms. The fairing has also been upgraded from 1.4 meters to 1.8 meters. It has successfully performed 29 launch missions and failed 2 times.
Kuaizhou 11 has a diameter of 2.2 meters and a take-off mass of 78 tons. It also adopts a tandem layout of three-stage solid + final stage liquid. The LEO transport capacity is 1.5 tons and the 700-kilometer SSO transport capacity is 1 ton. It is the solid rocket with the highest carrying efficiency in the world. It has currently carried out three launch missions and failed once.
With the rise of the satellite Internet industry, Kegong Rockets is also developing a Kuaizhou series of liquid recyclable rockets. On January 26, 2024, the VTVL test rocket independently developed by Kegong Rocket Technology Co., Ltd. completed a vertical take-off and landing test. The rocket flew for 22 seconds and hovered in the air for 9 seconds. The test arrow landed smoothly. The test rocket is equipped with the 10-ton liquid oxygen methane engine “Fengming 1” independently developed by Kegong Rocket Technology.
02
Who did Kegong Rockets sell to?
At present, the official has not officially announced the transaction results of the Science and Technology Rockets, but judging from the information on the National Public Resource Trading Platform on September 19, Sichuan Science and Technology Innovation Investment Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as: Sichuan Science and Technology Venture Capital) has started the recruitment of accounting firms. The project name is “A Commercial Rocket Launch M&A Project.” Nihao Space learned from people familiar with the matter that the target of this acquisition is Kegong Rockets.
After the transaction is completed, Science and Technology Rockets changes ownership to Sichuan Science and Technology Venture Capital, and will inevitably face a question: Should it stay in Hubei or go west to Sichuan?
With commercial aerospace being included in the government work report, various localities are strengthening their layout in the commercial aerospace field. Wuhan and Chengdu, as two “important towns” in the aerospace industry in the central and western regions, have also joined the construction of the commercial aerospace industry in full swing.
Hubei mainly relies on three major local aerospace technology highlands: Aerospace Sanjiang Group, China Information Technology Group and Wuhan University, and has developed a commercial aerospace industry chain with Wuhan National Aerospace Industry Base as the core. Its leading companies, Science and Technology Rockets, FiberHome Communications, Science and Technology Space, Yuncheng Satellite, etc., are mostly directly incubated by local scientific research institutes and universities.
Compared with Hubei, Sichuan’s construction of the commercial aerospace industry is more radical.
Driven by Chengdu, Deyang, Mianyang, Meishan, Liangshan and other places have set up commercial aerospace carrying areas, which not only cultivated local commercial aerospace chain owners Guoxing Aerospace, Huantian Intelligence, etc., but also attracted companies including rocket assembly manufacturing (Interstellar Glory, Galaxy Power, etc.), liquid engines Many leading commercial aerospace companies, including R&D (Tianhui Aerospace, Jiuzhou Yunjian), satellite assembly (Tianyi Research Institute, etc.), satellite payload manufacturing (Micro-Nano Starry Sky, etc.), and satellite supporting manufacturing (Aotian Technology, Exar, etc.), are investing in almost the entire chain.
The acquisition of Science and Technology Rockets is a key puzzle for Sichuan to win the manufacturing link of liquid recyclable rockets. According to people familiar with the matter, after the transaction is completed, Kegong Rockets’ existing solid rocket business will remain in Wuhan, and the liquid recyclable rocket research and development team will relocate to Chengdu.
03
Why did Aerospace Sanjiang sell the Science and Technology Rockets?
There are three reasons why Aerospace Sanjiang sold Kegong Rockets.
1. The company continues to suffer losses and becomes a “burden” of the group.
According to the information disclosed in the announcement, in 2024, the operating income of Kegong Rockets was approximately 63.8 million yuan, with a loss of 180 million yuan; in the first eight months of 2025, the revenue was 67.35 million yuan, and the loss was still more than 100 million yuan.
According to a “Single Source Procurement Expert Demonstration Opinion Form” from Zhejiang University, Zhejiang University’s launch service fee for a 40-kilogram small satellite carrying Kuaizhou-11A is 400,000 yuan, which means the launch price per kilogram is only 10,000 yuan. This price is far lower than the domestic price of about 30,000-50,000 yuan per kilogram for similar rockets.
Kuaizhou Rocket’s behavior of “losing money and making a profit” has also put Aerospace Sanjiang Group under pressure in the performance evaluation of the aerospace science and industry system.
2. Liquid R&D progress is slow
As a “commercial rocket” company, Science and Technology Rockets certainly knows that liquid recyclable rocket technology is the future direction. For this reason, it has also established a Beijing Research Center to conduct liquid rocket research and development.
However, because the solid business has been losing money, it has put itself under too much “assessment” pressure. Coupled with the high research and development costs of liquid rockets, the development process of Kegong Rockets’ liquid rockets has not been ideal. At present, only the “Mingfeng No. 1” 10-ton liquid oxygen methane engine has been produced.
3. No hope of listing
As a state-owned group subsidiary of Aerospace Sanjiang, the road to listing for Kegong Rockets is undoubtedly more difficult. Compared with private rocket companies, they have greater flexibility in financing, incentives, and listing. Under the institutional framework, it is difficult for Science and Technology Rockets to achieve complete market-based decision-making. Currently, domestic leading private rocket companies Blue Arrow Aerospace and China Science and Technology Aerospace have entered the listing guidance stage, but Science and Technology Rockets still has not made any move.
For Aerospace Sanjiang, selling Science and Technology Rockets is a “win-win”: it can not only reduce its own performance pressure, but also allow Science and Technology Rockets to get rid of the “system” burden, accelerate the research and development progress of liquid rockets through market-oriented financing and other channels, and is conducive to the long-term development of the company.
04
Commercial Rockets usher in an era of integration?
The Scitech Rockets deal has far-reaching consequences that go far beyond the fate of one company. It marks that China’s commercial rocket industry is about to enter an era of consolidation.
For the “national team”, this is strategic contraction: leaving commercial and highly competitive business to the market. Subsidiaries such as Kegong Rockets have obtained new funds and opportunities, which are expected to break the constraints of the system and participate in competition in a more market-oriented manner.
For local governments, they can take this opportunity to improve their industrial layout, integrate more competitive industrial resources such as rockets, satellites, and operational services, and create a space industry cluster with local characteristics.
For the industry, this is the first gong before the industry is reshuffled. In September, Star Glory raised 700 million, Galaxy Power raised 2.4 billion, and Tianbing Technology raised nearly 2.5 billion—capital bets are becoming more and more “top-oriented.” This indicates that the competitive landscape of the industry has gradually become clearer. Before the winner-take-all situation comes, midstream companies will most likely cling to the “thigh” of local governments like the Science and Technology Rockets, while tail companies can only seek mergers and acquisitions before they fall.
