The "15th Five-Year Plan" for Haidian District explicitly outlines the goal of "constructing satellite towns with high quality and promoting industrial agglomeration." On April 14, it was learned from the Zhongguancun Science City Administrative Committee that the core area construction project of the Beijing Satellite Town, located in the Yongfeng area of Haidian adjacent to China's Aerospace City, is progressing steadily and is expected to be completed and delivered within 2026. This distinctive town, centered on the aerospace industry, will leverage Haidian's substantial aerospace resources to build a comprehensive industrial ecosystem, injecting strong momentum into the high-quality development of Beijing's commercial aerospace sector.
Over 40 commercial aerospace enterprises have already settled in the pilot zone, Zhongguancun One, which has become one of Beijing's first batch of high-quality parks and a characteristic industrial cluster for commercial aerospace satellites. Zhixing Space, founded in 2018 with a core team originating from the Fifth Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, is now located on the 21st floor of Building A1 in Zhongguancun One, focusing on the Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellite field. Benefiting from the town's superior location and industrial ecosystem, the company can conveniently utilize the supply chain resources of the Aerospace Fifth Academy while achieving multiple business collaborations with neighboring enterprises through the industrial agglomeration effect within the park. In 2024, a 230-kilogram SAR satellite, independently developed and funded by Zhixing Space, achieved the best performance indicators domestically while in orbit, with imaging quality comparable to world-leading levels. Its azimuth resolution can reach 0.1 meters, and its range resolution can reach 0.5 meters. The company has been profitable for two consecutive years.
Another tenant of Zhongguancun One, Future Astronautics, founded in 2017, has grown into a national-level "Little Giant" high-tech enterprise specializing in satellite on-orbit delivery and on-orbit services, acting as a prime contractor for satellite projects. It has successfully delivered two satellite projects: Xidian-1 and Tarim Populus-1. "Haidian gathers more than half of the country's aerospace academicians and top university research resources, with a mature full-industry-chain layout. Coupled with the accelerated construction of the specialized satellite town carrier, it provides full-cycle support for enterprise development," said Gao Yibin, head of the Strategic Research Department at Future Astronautics. The company's independently developed Fengxing series of commercial space vehicles possess capabilities such as autonomous in-orbit flight and long-term station-keeping services. The first model is planned for launch in the second half of 2025, and the company aims to achieve greater development by leveraging the town's platform.
The construction of the Beijing Satellite Town is a key initiative by Haidian District to implement its "15th Five-Year Plan" and promote the agglomeration of the commercial aerospace industry. In addition to the pilot zone, Haidian District is currently accelerating the construction of the satellite town's core area, expected to be completed in the second half of 2026. According to a relevant official from Zhongguancun Science City, the core area will be structured around a "Four Zones, Three Centers" functional framework. It will focus on laying out four major sections: a satellite R&D zone, a satellite operations zone, a satellite application zone, and a satellite talent community. These will be supported by three centers: a satellite exhibition center, a satellite exchange center, and a satellite acceleration and incubation center, aiming to achieve synergistic empowerment of industry, talent, and innovation resources.
Simultaneously, the core area will be equipped with 1,655 talent apartments, 25,000 square meters of commercial facilities, and a 17,000-square-meter hotel and conference center, truly achieving a seamless integration of "work, life, and innovation." Notably, the core area will establish a 5,000-square-meter commercial aerospace acceleration and incubation platform to provide comprehensive support for startups, including rent reduction and entrepreneurial mentoring, helping innovative seeds grow rapidly.
Apart from the core area, the satellite town's public testing service platform is also advancing concurrently. This platform will be constructed through urban renewal in the Yongfeng Industrial Base, covering a total area of nearly 20,000 square meters. It will be equipped with nearly twenty satellite AIT (Assembly, Integration, and Test) workstations and a 12,000-square-meter Class 100,000 clean room. Its annual testing capacity is expected to exceed 100 satellites. Scheduled to be operational by 2027, it will effectively address the shortfall in industrial testing services and solidify the foundation of industrial infrastructure.
Technological innovation is the core competitiveness of the Beijing Satellite Town and the intrinsic driver of Haidian's commercial aerospace industry development. It is understood that a Space Data Center consortium, established based on the Beijing Satellite Town, has already broken through a series of key core technologies. It has completed the development of the first-generation experimental satellite, "Chenguang-1," which is currently undergoing assembly and testing, with a planned launch in 2026. By the end of 2027, it is expected to achieve a computing power scale of 200 petaflops per second. By 2030, the first space data center with a total power of 64 megawatts is planned to be built, potentially reshaping the global computing power landscape.
Meanwhile, to continuously optimize the innovation ecosystem, Haidian District is strengthening targeted policy support. It has issued the "Haidian District Action Plan for Building a Commercial Aerospace Innovation Highland (2024-2028)." Furthermore, by leveraging capital forces such as the Zhongguancun Science City Technology Growth Fund and the Zhongguancun Science City Achievement Transformation Fund, it is building a full-cycle science and technology finance empowerment system to promote the deep integration of policy, capital, technology, and talent.
A relevant official from Zhongguancun Science City stated that in the future, the Beijing Satellite Town will focus on the core links of commercial aerospace R&D, manufacturing, and data application. It will also coordinate with resources from central state-owned enterprises and universities in southern Haidian to build a development pattern of "R&D in the North, Application in the South, and Coordinated Development Across the Entire Region." This aims to promote synergy across the industry chain's upstream and downstream and functional complementarity between the northern and southern areas, achieving a comprehensive upgrade from industrial chain improvement to ecological chain construction. The goal is to help Haidian District build a commercially competitive aerospace innovation highland and contribute Haidian's strength to the high-quality development of China's aerospace industry.