1. China Commercial Aerospace
1. Industrial policy
On August 4, 2025, the General Office of the Hainan Provincial People’s Government issued the “Three-year Action Plan for Hainan Province to Accelerate the Construction of a Modern Industrial System with Characteristics and Advantages (2025-2027)”, which mentioned accelerating the cultivation of the entire commercial aerospace industry chain. On August 5, 2025, seven departments including the People’s Bank of China jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Financial Support for New Industrialization.” It is proposed to support qualified enterprises in emerging industries such as new generation information technology, basic software and industrial software, smart (connected) cars, new energy, new materials, high-end equipment, spatiotemporal information, commercial aerospace, biomedicine, network and data security to raise funds in the multi-level capital market. On August 19, 2025, Guangdong Province issued “Several Policies and Measures to Promote the High-Quality Development of Commercial Aerospace in Guangdong Province (2025-2028)”, covering 21 specific measures in seven major areas. It not only targets core links such as satellite constellations and rocket development, but also based on Guangdong’s terminal application advantages, strives to open up the entire chain of “satellite and rocket development-launch services-satellite applications”, pressing the “accelerator button” for building a commercial aerospace industry cluster. On August 25, 2025, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the “Guiding Opinions of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Optimizing Business Access and Promoting the Development of the Satellite Communications Industry”, which aims to promote the opening of satellite communications services in an orderly manner, promote the high-quality development of the satellite communications industry, stimulate the vitality of commercial aerospace innovation, cultivate and create new productive forces, and support the construction of a manufacturing power, a network power, and a digital China.
2. Launch activities
On August 4, 2025, my country used the Long March 12 carrier rocket at the No. 2 launch station of the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site to successfully launch the satellite Internet low-orbit 07 satellite into space. The satellite successfully entered the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. On August 9, 2025, the Jielong-3 Yao-6 carrier rocket was ignited and launched off the “Oriental Spaceport” launch ship off the coast of Rizhao, Shandong Province, using the method of one arrow and eleven satellites to send the Geely Constellation 04 satellites into the LEO orbit at an altitude of 600 kilometers and an inclination of 50°. On August 13, 2025, my country used the Long March 5B carrier rocket/Yuanzheng 2 upper stage at the Wenchang Space Launch Site to successfully launch the Satellite Internet Low Orbit Group 08 satellite into space. The satellite successfully entered the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. On August 15, 2025, the Blue Arrow Aerospace Zhuque-2 improved Yao-3 launch vehicle was launched from the No. 96 launch site of the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone. The launch mission failed due to problems with the second-stage rocket. This mission is the sixth flight of the Suzaku-2 series launch vehicle. Four of them were successful and two failures were caused by problems with the second-stage rocket. On August 17, 2025, my country used the Long March 4 Bingyao 64 carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center to successfully launch the Experimental No. 28 B Star 02. The satellite successfully entered the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. On August 17, 2025, my country used the Long March 6 modified carrier rocket at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center to successfully launch the 09 satellite Internet low-orbit satellite into space. The satellite successfully entered the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. On August 19, 2025, the Lijian-1 Yaoshi carrier rocket was launched from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone. It will carry a total of 7 satellites, including Zhongke Satellite 05, Multi-function Experiment 2 Satellite 01, 02, and 03 (Tiantuo 6 Satellite), Tianyan 26, ThumbSat-1 Satellite, and ThumbSat-2 Satellite, into predetermined orbits. On August 26, 2025, my country used the Long March 8A carrier rocket at the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site to successfully launch 10 sets of satellite Internet low-orbit satellites.
3. Investment and Financing Trends
Financing events According to news on August 4, 2025, Tianyi Pengbo announced that it has completed tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A round financing exclusively invested by Lightspeed Photosynthesis, which will accelerate the development of thermoplastic and high-end thermoset composite structural parts products and the expansion of high-end thermoplastic composite structural parts molding production lines. In August 2025, Aerospace Yuxing completed a C+ round of financing of 430 million yuan. This round of financing attracted the participation of many well-known institutions such as Cinda Capital, Gongda Venture Capital, Caitong Capital, Hanjiang Capital, Yangtze River Capital, NAIS and Jigang. The funds will be mainly used for the research and development and mass production of key technologies for satellite Internet ground infrastructure, as well as the continued construction of global aerospace ground infrastructure. According to news on August 15, 2025, Weiguang Qihang recently completed tens of millions of angel rounds of financing. The investor is an industrial organization in the north. The funds from this round of financing are mainly used to build a team and accelerate the implementation of core technologies. In August 2025, Lianjia Technology, a developer of aerospace precision core metal structural parts, completed equity financing. It is reported that this round of financing is exclusively invested by Yida Capital. In August 2025, Tianxing Discovery, a space-based information fusion application service provider, announced the completion of a tens of millions of angel rounds of financing. This round was exclusively invested by Lushi Investment, and the funds raised were used for core technology research and development and the establishment of an R&D team.
According to news on August 13, 2025, Boxantong, a domestic private maritime satellite communication service provider, recently announced the completion of a capital increase of 60 million yuan, with the registered capital increased from 60 million yuan to 120 million yuan. This capital increase will further enhance its technology research and development and market expansion capabilities and promote the innovative development of the satellite communications industry.
Listing news
According to news on August 4, 2025, Jiangsu Yixin Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. has recently been registered for listing guidance and plans to IPO in A-shares. The guidance agency is Minsheng Securities. The company is engaged in the research and development of micro-satellite spaceborne measurement and control communication products and ground measurement and control systems.
On August 13, 2025, the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission disclosed that China Aerospace’s initial public offering (IPO) and listing counseling filing report, the counseling status is “coaching filing”. The coaching institution is Cathay Haitong Securities Co., Ltd.
4. Product and technology progress
Rocket joint test and hot test run:
According to news on August 4, 2025, the semi-system test run of the Liqing II 110-ton liquid oxygen kerosene engine independently developed by China Aerospace was a complete success, and all core indicators were achieved at once. Semi-system test products include turbine pumps, gas generators, valves, starting systems, ignition systems and assembly pipelines in addition to the thrust chamber.
According to news on August 12, 2025, Galaxy Power Aerospace has recently completed a number of key ground tests for the Ceres-2 launch vehicle, including comprehensive matching tests of the electrical system, semi-physical simulation tests of the control system, full-system thermal tests of the orbit attitude control power system, joint first-stage engine tests, joint second-stage engine tests, fairing static tests, fairing separation tests, and launch vehicle and rocket joint training tests.
On August 15, 2025, my country successfully organized and implemented the tethered ignition test of the Long March 10 series launch vehicle at the Wenchang Space Launch Site. This is another important phased breakthrough in the development of my country’s manned lunar exploration project after the successful completion of the zero-altitude escape test of the Mengzhou manned spacecraft and the comprehensive verification test of the landing and takeoff of the lunar lander.
Launch site and ground construction
On August 5, 2025, the “Interstellar Return”, a ship specially designed by Interstellar Glory for launch vehicle recovery, officially held a launching ceremony at Yangzhou Runyang Shipyard. The recovery ship is about 100 meters long and 42 meters wide. Its recovery deck area is 40 meters × 60 meters, which is enough to stably carry the returned first-stage rocket.
5. Other events
Company News In August 2025, Changguang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. will cooperate with Xihu District to establish a second headquarters in Hangzhou, with an annual output of 1,000 satellites. The Hangzhou headquarters settled this time will build a new generation optical remote sensing satellite R&D, production and assembly base, and undertake tasks such as the construction and operation of giant constellations. According to news on August 6, 2025, the private commercial rocket company “Beijing Jianyuan Technology Co., Ltd.” established a wholly-owned subsidiary “Hangzhou Jianyuan Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd.” in Hangzhou. On August 14, 2025, Aerospace Huanyu disclosed its 2025 semi-annual report. During the reporting period, the company achieved revenue of 207 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.44%; net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies was 34.7 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 52%; non-net profit after deduction was 23.09 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 103.08%; basic earnings per share was 0.0859 yuan.
On August 14, 2025, Hangyu Micro announced that Zhou Wei, the company’s chairman, applied to resign from his positions as director and chairman of the company’s sixth board of directors. After his resignation, he will no longer hold any position in the company. The company’s director Yan Zhiyu will act as chairman and chairman of the strategic development committee of the board of directors, and the company’s independent director Zhang Yi will act as a member of the audit committee of the board of directors until the date when the new chairman is elected.
On August 14, 2025, Aerospace Hongtu announced that as of July 31, 2025, the company’s commercial acceptance bills had been overdue, and the remaining overdue commercial acceptance bills totaled 16.7754 million yuan, accounting for 1.91% of the company’s most recent audited net assets, and did not constitute a major debt that was due and unpaid.
On August 14, 2025, the Henan Provincial Department of Natural Resources organized a review meeting for the “Puyang Natural Resources Satellite Application Technology Center Construction Plan”. The construction of the satellite center closely focuses on the remote sensing application needs of Puyang’s natural resource management, agricultural and rural work, and digital government operations. It can provide strong data guarantee and technical support for the high-quality economic and social development of Puyang City. It was unanimously agreed to pass the review.
On August 21, 2025, Henan Hezhong Strong Space-time Information Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Beijing Hezhong Strong Technology Co., Ltd., signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Henan Institute of Remote Sensing. The two parties will carry out in-depth cooperation around technical cooperation, application conversion, talent training, academic alliances and scientific research innovation, etc., exert strategic synergy, and jointly contribute to the high-quality development of the geographical information industry in Henan Province.
On August 22, 2025, China Satellite announced that the company’s board of directors recently received a written resignation report submitted by Jiang Jun, applying to resign as the company’s vice president, and will no longer hold any position in the company after his resignation. The company appointed Xiao Tao as vice president of the company, with a term until the end of the term of the current board of directors.
On August 22, 2025, Henan Zhilian Space-Time Information Technology Co., Ltd., the Aerospace Information Innovation Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and 21st Century Space Technology Application Co., Ltd. won the bid for the aerial photography remote sensing monitoring and data production project of the Henan Remote Sensing Institute.
On August 26, 2025, the official website of Jinan Municipal Natural Resources and Planning Bureau issued a pre-approval announcement for construction project planning permission. According to the announcement, Jinan Iron and Steel Group Co., Ltd. plans to build a “large payload rocket headquarters and final assembly manufacturing base project” in Jinan Lingang Economic Development Zone.
Industry Trends On August 16, 2025, the National Space Administration Satellite Communication System Innovation Center (established relying on the Communications and Navigation Satellite General Department of the Fifth Academy) Expert Committee and the 2025 Satellite Communication Development Seminar were held in Shenzhen. On August 20, 2025, under the coordination of the Department of Natural Resources of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Guangxi planned the construction of Beidou satellite navigation and positioning base stations in a hierarchical and multi-channel manner. The number of Beidou satellite navigation and positioning base stations increased from 141 at the beginning of the “14th Five-Year Plan” to 389 in August 2025. The distance between base stations was shortened to 20-30 kilometers. Centimeter-level high-precision positioning was achieved throughout the region. The average positioning time was shortened from 90 seconds to within 10 seconds. Positioning accuracy and service reliability reached the domestic advanced level.
2. International commercial aerospace
1. Industrial policy
On August 13, 2025, the White House issued an executive order “Promoting Competition in the Commercial Space Industry”, aiming to comprehensively reform the supervision of the commercial space industry. The executive order clearly proposes to significantly increase the frequency of commercial space launches and new space activities by 2030 by creating a competitive launch market.
2. Launch activities
On August 1, 2025, the Falcon 9 launch vehicle successfully executed the Crew-11 manned mission from launch pad 39A at the Kennedy Space Center, sending four astronauts to the International Space Station. On August 3, 2025, Blue Origin successfully executed the 14th manned mission of the “New Shepard” aircraft (mission code name NS-34), sending six crew members, including a cryptocurrency entrepreneur, into space. On August 5, 2025, Rocket Laboratory successfully launched the QPS-SAR-12 satellite using the Electron launch vehicle from the LC-1B launch pad on the Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand. On August 12, 2025, the Ariane 6 launch vehicle successfully launched the Metop-SG A1 weather satellite into the predetermined orbit at the ELA-4 launch station at the Kourou Space Launch Site in French Guiana. METOP-SG is Europe’s second-generation polar-orbiting meteorological satellite system used to replace the first-generation METOP satellite. On August 13, 2025, ULA successfully performed a launch mission using a Vulcan Centaur rocket in Cape Card, sending a navigation technology demonstration satellite named NTS-3 and a confidential payload code-named USA-554 into orbit. This is the first National Security Launch Plan (NSSL) mission since the birth of the Vulcan Centaur rocket.
On August 26, 2025, SpaceX conducted the tenth test flight of the Starship at Star Base in Texas. In this test flight, the second-stage spacecraft successfully deployed simulated satellites and successfully splashed down in the Indian Ocean.
On August 28, 2025, SpaceX successfully launched the StarLink G10-11 mission from the SLC-39A launch pad at Kennedy Space Center using the B1067-30 first-stage Falcon 9 launch vehicle. B1067 was the first Falcon 9 first-stage booster to be reused 30 times.
In August 2025, SpaceX carried out 15 launch missions, including 14 Falcon 9 launches and one Starship launch, launching a total of 262 spacecraft into space (excluding the 8 simulated payloads of the Starship). It is worth mentioning that in the last 10 days of August, SpaceX carried out 9 launch missions.
3. Financing dynamics
On August 11, 2025, Belgian startup EdgX announced that it had received US$2.7 million in seed round financing. The funds will be used to develop the “Sterna” spaceborne AI computer, which will use algorithms to process satellite data in orbit to solve the bottlenecks of small satellites’ small storage capacity, low power and narrow bandwidth. A commercial satellite operator has purchased a Sterna computer worth US$1.28 million, and two satellites using the computer will be launched next year. Rocket Lab announced that it has completed the acquisition of Geost parent company holdings, a developer of electro-optical/infrared sensor systems. The final price of the transaction is US$275 million (excluding delivery adjustments), including approximately US$125 million in cash and 3,057,588 shares of Rocket Lab common stock, and a potential income of up to US$50 million, which is linked to Geost’s future revenue targets. European satellite manufacturer Aerospacelab announced on Tuesday the completion of a 94 million euro (approximately $110 million) Series B financing to enhance its satellite manufacturing capabilities. This round of financing includes a two-phase financing of 56 million euros (approximately $66 million) and a commitment of 38 million euros (approximately $44 million) from an unnamed European financial institution. The American company SpinLaunch raised US$30 million to build the “Meridian Space” low-orbit constellation, which is expected to achieve initial operation in the second half of 2026. The funding was led by ATW Partners and also included a $12 million strategic investment from Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace. On August 7, Firefly Aerospace opened at $70 on its first day of listing on Nasdaq, after the company’s stock offering price was higher than the expected range. The stock trades under the ticker “FLY” and its initial price valued the company at nearly $10 billion. American startup Orbital Operations announced the completion of a seed round of financing with an undisclosed amount. The funds will be used to expand the team and research two core technologies: long-term cryogenic liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen propellant management and high-performance upper stage engines. Its goal is to launch an Orbital Transfer Vehicle (OTV) that can operate in orbit for many years within two years to provide precise deployment, replacement and life extension services for high-orbit satellites.
4. Other events
On August 1, 2025, EchoStar Corporation has placed an order worth US$1.3 billion with MDA Aerospace to purchase the first 100 satellites for its direct-to-device (D2D) communication constellation with a total investment of US$5 billion. It’s worth noting that the company’s spectrum licenses are currently under regulatory scrutiny and may even face bankruptcy. On August 1, 2025, American earth observation startup Albedo won the second phase of the contract from the US National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), paving the way for the agency to purchase its satellite images. On August 5, 2025, the British private rocket manufacturer Skyrora recently obtained the first launch license issued by the British Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). Its suborbital rocket “Skylark L” will be launched from the Saxa Ward Spaceport in the Shetland Islands in northern Scotland, and can carry out up to 16 launches per year.
On August 5, 2025, Australia’s National Broadband Network and Amazon announced an agreement to provide high-speed wholesale fixed broadband services to some remote areas and rural users in Australia through the low-Earth orbit satellite technology of “Project Kuiper”.
On August 14, 2025, SpaceX announced the key innovation of the third-generation starship—the new grille wing design. The new grille wing area is 50% larger than the previous generation, and the structure is stronger. Only three wings are needed to effectively control the aircraft. The new grille wing will be used on the third generation Super Heavy booster.
