Satellites are cheaper than sports cars. How does commercial spaceflight make money?

You may not have noticed that the Wi-Fi you purchase on a plane, the map navigation on your phone that updates in real time, and even emergency communications in remote areas—these seemingly ordinary functions are, in most cases, largely dependent on satellites in the sky.

But a more counterintuitive fact is that the current cost of satellites that already exist can be kept within $500,000, which is even cheaper than the price of a top-tier sports car. And over the past more than 20 years, the launch cost of commercial satellites has fallen by nearly 90%. This is gradually turning commercial spaceflight—once a business that could burn through billions of dollars—into a “mass-market business” that ordinary people can increasingly afford. (Data source: NASA)

Lowering the entry barrier has also drawn capital rushing in. Data shows that in 2025, the total industry financing amount reached 18.6 billion yuan, up 32% year over year. (Data source: Hexun Finance) Even in the secondary market, enthusiasm for commercial spaceflight remains high: since the beginning of the year, the average daily trading value has reached 803 billion yuan, far exceeding last year.

Data source: Wind. Past performance does not predict future results.

So for commercial spaceflight, how does it make money? What are the areas to watch in the future? And what catalysts exist in industries and policies right now? Next, Xiaoying will explain it all to you at once.

01

The secret of “mass affordability”

The core of commercial spaceflight

is market-led, profit-oriented. This means that costs and revenues will be key to whether it can be sustainable.

From the cost side, satellite launches are the cost focus of commercial spaceflight. In the past, launching a single rocket could consume hundreds of millions of dollars, and once launched it would be scrapped. That’s why space activities are often described as a “nobility game,” but as SpaceX has achieved both cost reduction and reuse through first-stage rocket recovery and reuse technology, space activities have begun to gradually become “more accessible to the public.”

Using Falcon 9 as the calculation benchmark: assuming the cost of a brand-new rocket is 50 million dollars, as the number of reuses increases, after the 15th reuse the average launch cost will be 17.33 million dollars, a decline of 65.3%. Currently, the maximum number of reuses for a single rocket has reached 32 times. As the number of reuses increases, the average cost will asymptotically approach about 15 million dollars, which is about 70% lower than the cost of a one-time launch. (Data source: Northeast Securities)

With costs dropping significantly, companies’ willingness to launch satellites and the number of launches will rise as well, and industry conditions will also improve; as a result, profitability across each link will increase.

Of course, the specific ways to make money differ from one link to another. Broadly speaking, in the short term, a large number of satellite launches will greatly boost demand in the midstream; in the medium term, along with breakthroughs in related technologies, upstream manufacturing costs are expected to drop substantially, and with cost reductions and efficiency gains, corporate profits may rise; while in the downstream, it depends on how widely end consumers adopt the applications.

Specifically,

Upstream

Make money by selling “shovels”

For example, rocket engines and companies related to satellite components. This segment not only has high technical barriers, but also requires substantial upfront investment, making it the foundation for carrying out commercial space activities.

Midstream

Charge “property fees”

Provide sites and related ground equipment for rocket launches. At the same time, help companies with satellite launch and operational maintenance, and in this process earn “property fees.”

Downstream

Earn “service fees”

For example, helping automakers with satellite navigation; using satellites for data computation, or even taking people to space for tourism. The room for imagination in the future is enormous.

In fact, as commercial spaceflight becomes increasingly popular, some emerging application scenarios are already beginning to appear—such as space computing power.

02

Space computing power opens up new possibilities

Recently, Shanghai Jiao Tong University has completed a technical trial: it enabled remote control of ground humanoid robots by calling space computing power via natural-language instructions. This means that the industry has, for the first time, verified the feasibility of space computing power providing AI cognition services for ground silicon-based intelligent agents.

As the name suggests, space computing power means moving terrestrial data centers into outer space by launching satellites. Compared with building data centers on the Earth’s surface, it has significant advantages in energy consumption, heat dissipation, and processing speed.

In terms of energy consumption

Because the illumination intensity is strong in space and day length is long, solar panels can generate electricity almost around the clock, with no issue of power shortages at all.

In terms of heat dissipation

About 40% of a data center’s energy consumption goes to the cooling system, and the space environment is close to absolute zero, which greatly reduces operating costs.

Data source: China Post Securities

In terms of processing efficiency

Traditional satellites transmit all computed data back to the ground, which is constrained by both timeliness and bandwidth. A space data center, however, can directly perform data processing and training in space, sending only the results back to the ground, thereby significantly improving data efficiency.

According to calculations by China Post Securities, under different launch cost scenarios, the total operating cost of a space data center over 10 years is less than 50% of that of a terrestrial data center.

So, along with the global construction of AI data centers, space computing power is expected to become one of the optimal solutions to energy issues, and at the practical level it has already started to show initial results. And in this process, the value of commercial spaceflight may also rise to a new level.

03

Why is it worth paying attention to right now?

In 2025, a total of 329 rockets were launched globally, and China’s share is nearly 30%, meaning that 1 out of every 3 rockets worldwide comes from China. (Data source: Jiemian News) This implies that China is becoming one of the important participants in the space industry.

In fact, since last year, China’s catalysts in the commercial spaceflight industry have continued unabated, and this trend is expected to carry on further this year.

On the policy front

Commercial spaceflight has been elevated to the level of a national strategy. Since the 2024 Government Work Report first defined commercial spaceflight as a “new growth engine,” it was further recognized the following year as an “emerging industry”; and this year it was included in the industrial category of “aerospace,” with its position as a “new pillar industry” clearly established.

On the technology front

On February 11, 2026, the Long March 10A first-stage controlled splashdown at sea of the national team, the “Long March 10A first-stage” controlled splashdown at sea, was completed, which means China’s recovery control algorithms have basically matured. Along with more than 10 rockets collectively sprinting this year toward “reusability,” 2026 is expected to become China’s first year of reusable rockets.

On the demand side

Faster network building for the two major constellation groups will drive a substantial increase in the number of rocket launches. Taking the GW constellation as an example: its plan is to launch 13,000 satellites, and it has already launched 12 test satellites. This means that starting in the second half of the year, domestic commercial rocket companies may enter a sustained “bulk order era” for several years. (Data source: Economic Observer)

Data source: Research Institute of Zheshang Securities

From policy support to demand surge, commercial spaceflight has become an industry closely tied to national strategy. In this process, whether it is the core hardware in the upstream, the launch services in the midstream, or the application scenarios in the downstream, there are enormous opportunities hidden at every stage.

With the triple drivers of policy, technology, and demand, China’s commercial spaceflight will inevitably secure an important position in global competition and enter its own golden development period. And this is also the important reason why commercial spaceflight is still worth our continued attention right now.

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