From September 29 to October 3, 2025, the 76th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) was held at the Sydney International Convention and Exhibition Center in Australia.<\/p>\n
This article is written by people in the Chinese commercial aerospace industry specially invited by Nihao Space to participate in the exhibition. Based on on-site observations, it shares the overview of the conference, domestic and foreign exhibition highlights and future commercial aerospace development trends to provide reference for peers and aerospace enthusiasts.<\/p>\n
01<\/p>\n
IAC2025 Conference Overview<\/p>\n
The conference is hosted by the International Astronautical Federation (IAF), hosted and co-organized by the Australian Aerospace Industry Association and other departments. This world-class event, known as the “Aerospace Olympics”, with the theme of “Sustainable Space: Resilient Earth”, marks the transformation of the global aerospace industry from “only focusing on space” to “serving the earth”. The conference attracted more than 10,000 professionals from nearly 100 countries around the world and held more than 200 technical meetings and forums, covering deep space exploration, satellite applications, rail transportation management, sustainable space governance and other directions. The venue covers an area of \u200b\u200bapproximately 60,000 square meters, with nearly 300 organizations and companies from various countries participating in the exhibition, with daily traffic of tens of thousands of people. It is worth noting: 1) This conference is located in Australia, which is farther away than Europe or North America. Therefore, the number of exhibitors is slightly lower than some previous conferences, but large national aerospace organizations are still present. 2) The content of the exhibition is more practical and technology-oriented, with less pure strategic declarations and more actual products, system solutions and cooperation implementation. 3) A higher proportion of national aerospace organizations will participate in the exhibition, which is conducive to docking with high-level leaders of various countries and overall cooperation. 4) Russia is still absent. The largest participants are local Australian and American companies, followed by China. In addition, European (mostly British), Japan, South Korea, India and other countries are also very active. As a person in the commercial aerospace industry, I deeply felt at the scene: the word “space” is changing from a dream to a service, and the conference has become an arena for “who can put the technology into practice and who can integrate into the application ecosystem.” <\/p>\n
02<\/p>\n
Overview of my country’s exhibitions<\/p>\n
In this conference, the Chinese pavilion showed a systematic appearance, from state-led to commercial power linkage. The following is explained separately from the national institutional sector and the commercial enterprise sector. 1. National Institutions Section The main exhibition area of \u200b\u200bChina National Space Administration is jointly displayed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Group Co., Ltd., China Electronics Technology Group Co., Ltd., Deep Space Exploration Laboratory, Zhijiang Laboratory and other units. The exhibition area is about 144 square meters. It focuses on displaying models of the space station, Chang’e-6, and Long March series rockets, as well as national aerospace projects and achievements such as lunar soil samples brought back by Chang’e-5 and Chang’e-6. During the conference, Bian Zhigang, deputy administrator of the China National Space Administration, attended the Space Leaders Forum and discussed the topic of “global space governance” with his counterparts from more than 50 countries at a closed-door summit, expounding China’s propositions. Li Zhongbao, chairman-elect of the IAF Satellite Commercial Application Special Committee and chief engineer of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, met with leaders of the IAF and the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) to promote international cooperation. At the opening ceremony, Hu Hao, a representative of the Chang’e-6 mission team recommended by the Chinese Astronautical Society, received the “IAF 2025 World Aerospace Awards Team Award”. These activities reflect that China\u2019s national space system not only demonstrates hard power, but also actively participates in global governance and commercial cooperation. 2. Commercial enterprise sector In terms of commercial aerospace, there are a lot of domestic commercial exhibitors, and booth investment and international popularity have increased. Exhibiting companies mainly include: Galaxy Aerospace, Aerospace Yuxing, Yidong Aerospace, Aotian Technology, Zhongke Aerospace, Fu Chang Space, Ziwei Technology, Rubik’s Cube Satellite, Nationstar Aerospace, Disatellite, and more than ten companies. Among them, companies such as China Star Aerospace, China Science and Technology Aerospace, and Geosatellite II have invested relatively heavily in booths and attach great importance to the international market. <\/p>\n
Overall, the Chinese pavilion is no longer limited to the traditional “national team” image, but its commercial power is being displayed and communicated with foreign countries. For domestic counterparts who did not attend the conference, several observable highlights include: although the commercial booth is small, the brand expression, international interaction, and forum speaking capabilities are increasing; the commercial aerospace ecosystem formed by the joint efforts of policies and local industrial parks is accelerating.<\/p>\n
03<\/p>\n
Overview of international exhibitors and development of major countries<\/p>\n
In the international exhibition area, the trends shown at this conference are: parallel commercial aerospace and national aerospace, strong application orientation, and increasingly regional ecology. There are more than 200 international institutions and companies participating in this IAC. In addition to international joint organizations, the Australian Space Agency and dozens of Australian aerospace companies\/schools, NASA and various U.S. satellite manufacturing and sub-system companies (including AWS, Viasat, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Vast and other well-known companies), ESA, German Aerospace Pavilion, Indian Space Organization and Joint Pavilion, Italian Space Agency and Pavilion, Thales of France, Japan’s JAXA and its pavilion, Korea Aerospace Industries Corporation and various enterprises, Luxembourg Space Agency, Polish Space Agency, Singapore Space Company, Spanish company, Swedish Space Company, Turkish Space Agency, United Arab Emirates Space Agency joint exhibition, British Space Agency and related companies, representatives from Israel, New Zealand, Maldives, South Africa, the Netherlands, Slovakia and other delegations participated in the exhibition, and representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries participated. The products and technologies on display include satellite integration (optical, remote sensing SAR, situational awareness and other satellite manufacturing), electronic equipment, components, power supplies, chips and other sub-system manufacturers, optical load and SAR load manufacturers, rocket launch service providers, orbital transportation services, space monitoring\/cleaning services, ground station network services, rocket component suppliers, remote sensing data service and solution providers, spacecraft\/space station manufacturing and service providers, space research institutions, etc. Main Asian countries participating in the exhibition: 1. Japan The Japanese pavilion presents a situation of “national team” dominance + “new forces” innovation. The government-enterprise collaboration model is obvious. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) leads the research and development and verification of forward-looking technologies, and private enterprises are responsible for commercialization and industrialization, building a full industry chain ecosystem covering the upstream, midstream and downstream. From IHI’s rocket engines, NEC and Mitsubishi Electric’s satellite platforms and core components, Sharp’s energy systems, to SKY Perfect JSAT’s operational services, Synspective’s data applications, to Astroscale’s on-orbit maintenance and JAMSS’s space station utilization, every link is supported by world-class enterprises, and the industrial chain is complete, forming a strong ecological internal synergy. Japanese aerospace companies are seeking international cooperation with an extremely open attitude, striving to become a key link in the global supply chain and export their high-quality products, technologies and services to the international market. Its technical highlights include: NEC’s inter-satellite laser communication technology (successfully achieving 40,000 kilometers of high-speed communication between GEO-LEO), Astroscale’s on-orbit service technology (rendezvous, proximity operations), etc. Facing the future, Japan is focusing on more forward-looking areas. In terms of sustainable space, through Astroscale’s services, it actively responds to the problem of space debris and builds a “circular space economy”; in terms of commercial space, JAMSS is preparing for the “commercial space station era”, transforming space from a government-dominated field to a commercial market; in terms of data-driven companies, Synspective, SKY Perfect JSAT and other companies emphasize data analysis and solutions, highlighting the transformation from “manufacturing hardware” to “providing value.” 2. South Korea The Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) and the Korean Space Agency (KASA) have set national goals: to launch the “World” rocket every year from 2025 to 2027, and to become the world’s fifth largest aerospace power in 2045. In this conference, KASA held a Korean pavilion, and 12 Korean start-ups\/small and medium-sized enterprises such as LUMIR participated in the exhibition. Their technologies cover satellite payloads, high-resolution remote sensing, space exploration, etc. South Korea has competitive advantages in earth observation, SAR remote sensing, small constellations, AI image processing, etc. 3. India Indian commercial aerospace is rising rapidly. Since 2019, the Indian government has transformed its aerospace industry from a model dominated by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to an open commercial ecosystem through a series of strategic reforms such as the establishment of IN-SPACE (a dedicated regulatory and promotion agency), the release of the “Indian Space Policy 2023” and clarifying the respective roles of ISRO, the private sector and commercial companies (NSIL). These reforms have greatly stimulated the innovation vitality and investment enthusiasm of the private sector. In the past six years, more than 350 aerospace start-ups have been established in India, and funding has increased approximately 40 times. Covering fields such as launch, satellites, on-orbit solutions and data applications, financing amounts and valuations have hit new highs, showing strong development momentum. In addition, IN-SPACE has taken the initiative to carry out international promotion, holding Space Day activities and signing cooperation agreements with many countries, aiming to position India as a global hub for aerospace manufacturing, launch and application, and help domestic companies integrate into the world. The Indian aerospace industry has successfully embarked on a strategic transformation from “national team-led” to “national advancement”. A commercial aerospace ecosystem with the government building the foundation, private enterprises playing the leading role in innovation, and capital deeply participating is maturing rapidly, making it an emerging force that cannot be ignored in the global space economy. In this conference, India has a large scale of exhibitors: about 190 exhibitors, only 7 government representatives, and the remaining 183 people are from commercial companies, reflecting the vitality of India’s commercial aerospace industry. Exhibitor technology and service directions include small launch, satellite manufacturing, data downstream services, etc. Private companies such as Skyroot Aerospace are preparing to launch their commercial rockets. In addition to the above-mentioned countries, countries such as Singapore and the United Arab Emirates also used this conference to increase investment and display in the aerospace industry, especially targeting satellite communications, small satellite manufacturing and regional aerospace hub positioning. Overall, the international exhibition pattern reflects: Launching is still a basic capability: rocket and whole satellite manufacturing are still popular. Applications and services are becoming the \u201cmain battlefield\u201d: satellite Internet, remote sensing data, constellation operations, on-orbit services, etc. are becoming more active. International cooperation and ecological construction have become key words: cooperation between countries and businesses is frequent, and rule systems, data sharing, and sustainable governance are mentioned many times. Regional division of labor and characteristics are becoming more and more obvious: Asian countries are accelerating to catch up, Europe focuses on independence and greenness, and the United States continues to lead commercialization. <\/p>\n
04<\/p>\n
Industry trend insights<\/p>\n
At this conference, as a Chinese commercial aerospace practitioner, I have several experiences worth sharing with my peers. 1. Application orientation has been fully launched. Walking in the center of the exhibition hall, what is common is not the accumulation of rocket models, but the combination of “satellites + services”: such as remote sensing image display, physical satellite Internet terminals, and small constellation operation and maintenance platforms. With the intervention of data, algorithms, and service capabilities, the step after “go to heaven” is more emphasized than “go to heaven” itself. Chinese commercial enterprises should have a deep understanding that launch capabilities alone are not enough. Whether they can turn satellites into services and create value for end customers will determine their future competitiveness. 2. Rules and governance have become a new dimension of competition. The \u201cspace triad\u201d \u2013 safety, security and security (STM, Space Traffic Management) \u2013 was repeatedly mentioned at the conference. Orbital debris, spectrum coordination, constellation operations, and ground service security have all entered the commercial discourse system. Taking Galaxyspace as an example, it talked about frequency coordination with the ITU and platform construction in conjunction with operators in the forum, which is a typical scenario of “China’s commercial aerospace participation in the formulation of international rules.” Rule capabilities will become the soft power of enterprises. 3. International perspective is indispensable. In communicating with overseas customers and government representatives, we found that many cooperations are not about \u201cselling products\u201d but about \u201cjoint services\u201d or \u201cecological co-construction\u201d. For example, Japanese companies emphasize “on-orbit services + circular space economy”, Indian companies emphasize “commercial launch + data services”, and South Korea emphasizes “Earth observation + AI”. If Chinese commercial aerospace companies hope to break through faster, they must have an international vision, global cooperation capabilities, and value chain integration capabilities. 4. Differentiation becomes a breakthrough point. Although the industry generally emphasizes constellations, low orbits, and remote sensing, not all companies are suitable for the “Star Chain” scale. Most of the “winners” seen at the conference are companies with clear segmentation positioning, technology accumulation or policy support. For domestic peers, we need to see clearly: In which segment can I have an advantage over others? Is it “flexible solar wing”, “SAR payload” or “satellite-ground integration service”? At the IAC site, I saw that Chinese companies are transforming from “capability demonstration” to “solution”. 5. The policy and capital environment are accelerating and favorable. Global data shows that the global space economy will be approximately US$613 billion in 2024. The commercial sector accounts for about 78%. India, South Korea, Japan, and Europe are all increasing policy support. Although there are challenges such as geographical distance, language barriers, and institutional differences in the country, China’s commercial aerospace is also in a “window of opportunity”: there is room for improvement in policy promotion, capital intervention, and international cooperation. <\/p>\n
Conclusion<\/p>\n
As a Chinese commercial aerospace practitioner, my participation in IAC2025 made me deeply realize that this conference is not only about “looking at products”, but also a transformational node for “looking at ecology and services”. The exhibition is no longer just a hardware show, but a comprehensive platform of “business model + global connection + rule participation”. China’s commercial aerospace industry is moving from “following” to “participating” and from “being able to demonstrate” to “being able to dialogue.”<\/p>\n
I hope this article will give colleagues who have not been able to visit IAC a more intuitive understanding of the global aerospace landscape and trends. Looking forward to the next IAC, we will see more Chinese companies, not only as exhibitors, but also as rule makers and ecosystem builders, becoming an important force in the “new space order”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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