In the second half of 2025, the satellite Internet industry will continue to receive good news. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued 19 satellite communications regulations to support the development of satellite Internet applications. Large-scale networking rockets such as Tianlong 3 have been tested one after another. Satellite Internet licenses will also be issued one after another. The development of the industry has officially reached an inflection point.<\/p>\n
Today we will take stock of: China\u2019s main satellite Internet constellation network in the future. <\/p>\n
01<\/p>\n
New Deal for Communication Satellites<\/p>\n
There is only one quarter left in 2025. The “Super Space Year” that everyone was looking forward to at the beginning of the year did not come as promised. A small explosion of star networks in August made everyone think that large-scale networking is really coming. But after entering September, everything seemed to be quiet again. Even the Thousand Sail Constellation, which will be built in 2024, has not launched a satellite for half a year.<\/p>\n
Behind the calm launch dynamics, a “storm” is brewing in the satellite Internet industry.<\/p>\n
On August 25, 2025, the “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” of the Associated Finance Agency published content stating that relevant departments will issue satellite Internet licenses in the near future. After the news was released, it quickly attracted widespread attention in the industry. The issuance of the license means that satellite Internet commercial operations are about to take the first step.<\/p>\n
On August 27, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the “Guiding Opinions on Optimizing Business Access to Promote the Development of the Satellite Communications Industry”. The opinions are clear: Promote the development of the satellite communications industry through orderly expansion of market opening, continuous expansion of application fields, and cultivation of industrial ecology. The opinion lists 19 specific measures in detail to provide policy support for industrial development.<\/p>\n
Whether it is the issuance of licenses or the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology optimizing business access conditions and expanding market opening, the continuously increasing policies indicate that high-frequency launch has arrived and the industry turning point is imminent.<\/p>\n
02<\/p>\n
Where is the turning point for large-scale networking?<\/p>\n
Although policies continue to release positive signals, judging from the development progress, China’s satellite Internet industry still has at least 2-3 years to go before it can form service capabilities comparable to Starlink. The progress of the construction of the two major domestic satellite Internet constellations is not as good as expected, especially the Qianfan constellation, which is faced with the embarrassing situation of “no arrows available” under the situation of all-out efforts to “protect the satellite network”. At present, there are a total of five domestic rockets that have participated in satellite network launches, namely: Chang 5B, Chang 8, Chang Bajia, Chang 12 and Chang Liujia. Except for the Chang-5B, which can achieve a transport capacity of more than 10 tons in an 800-kilometer SSO orbit, the other rockets have relatively low networking efficiency. The problem faced by the Chang-5B is the high cost per kilogram of transport capacity. After all, its core stage uses a more expensive and technically complex liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen engine. The reason why we say “high-frequency launch has arrived and the industry turning point is imminent” is because in the second half of 2025, many large-scale commercial rockets in China have completed the “quiet point” of the first-stage rocket. They are Tianlong 3 of Tianbing Technology, Zhuque 3 of Blue Arrow Aerospace, and Lijian 2 of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The first-stage static ignition is the most important ground test in the development process of large rockets. The successful completion of the static ignition test of the first-stage and second-stage rockets means that the rockets are basically ready for their first flights. It is certain that these three rockets will complete their first flights within this year. In addition, the Chang Twelve A, developed by the Shanghai Academy of Aerospace Engineering, will also complete its first flight within the year. Under the premise that the domestic satellite Internet industry is in urgent need of launch, there is a high probability that these rockets will be able to achieve commercial operation in 2026. <\/p>\n
03<\/p>\n
The main arrow for future constellation networking<\/p>\n
So among the four large rockets that will fly for the first time at the end of the year, which one will become the main rocket for China\u2019s constellation network in the future? Satellite networking considers nothing more than three points for a rocket: transportation capacity, cost and response speed. To put it simply, it must be both efficient and low-priced. The scale effect brought by transportation capacity is the key to determining launch efficiency and cost. A large rocket itself means higher efficiency and lower cost. In terms of transport capacity, among the four rockets that first flew during the year, Tianlong-3 has the highest transport capacity: a one-time low-Earth orbit transport capacity of 22 tons and a recyclable transport capacity of 17 tons; followed by Zhuque-3, which claims a one-time low-Earth orbit transport capacity of 21.3 tons and a recyclable transport capacity of 18.3 tons, which is equivalent to Tianlong-3. However, after the first-stage engine is replaced with Tianque 12A, the transport capacity is definitely not as good as Tianlong-3. As for Lijian-2 and Long March 12A: the former has a one-time low-Earth orbit transport capacity of 12 tons, and the take-off thrust of the latter’s seven Longyun engines in parallel will not exceed the previous three rockets. Both have a big gap with Tianlong 3 and Suzaku 3. From a technical perspective, there are also subtle differences in the first echelon. Tianlong 3 wins because the overall technical route is more stable. The open liquid oxygen kerosene design used by Tianhuo 12 is more mature than Tianque 12A technology. Its extensive use of 3D printing and integrated design reduces the number of components and simplifies the assembly of the entire machine and components. The thrust-to-mass ratio reaches 163, which is similar to SpaceX\u2019s Merlin-1D engine. In addition, the research and development path of Tianlong-3’s first flight first and then recovery is more stable than that of Suzaku-3, which greatly increases the probability of success of the first flight. The advantage of Zhuque 3 lies in its “first flight” and “recycling”. It also uses more cost-effective design solutions such as stainless steel rocket bodies. In the future, after breakthroughs in Tianque 12B and recycling technology are achieved, the commercial barriers will be higher. From a commercial perspective, who can take the lead in making the first flight will be the key to breaking through the encirclement. The concentration of resources brought about by the Matthew Effect will allow technology leaders to quickly establish a “moat.” <\/p>\n
Summarize<\/p>\n
Not long ago, three rockets, Tianlong 3, Zhuque 3 and Lijian 2, were shortlisted for the Yuanxin Satellite constellation network launch tender, requiring the three rockets to complete their first flights within the year. Whoever can take the lead in making the first flight will have the opportunity to change the industry structure and realize “winner takes all”.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the second half of 2025, the satellite Internet industry will continue to receive good news. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued 19 satellite communications regulations to support the development of satellite Internet applications. Large-scale networking rockets such as Tianlong 3 have been tested one after another. Satellite Internet licenses will also […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25205"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25205\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}