The provincial government's work report has proposed accelerating the construction of a western commercial spaceport. Relevant industrial planning has already been quietly underway in Sichuan. During the provincial Two Sessions, "space tourism" became a hot topic among delegates and committee members.
On February 6, journalists from the Sichuan Daily based in Chengdu, Ziyang, and Liangshan held a discussion focusing on the dream of space travel, sharing insights gained from the meetings.
Sichuan possesses strong foundations for developing its commercial aerospace sector. Beyond the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, the Chengdu-Deyang-Meishan-Ziyang region has formed a core cluster for commercial aerospace R&D and manufacturing. Chengdu focuses on whole satellites, payloads, and data applications, hosting a number of leading domestic commercial aerospace companies. Deyang specializes in the production and testing of precision aerospace structural components and forgings. Meishan is deploying remote sensing satellite networks. Ziyang concentrates on the final assembly of commercial rockets; Xinghe Dongli, located there, manufactured and assembled Sichuan's first privately-developed commercial carrier rocket. The area also hosts the world's first verification platform for electromagnetic launch using superconducting maglev technology. Currently, there are over 230 commercial aerospace enterprises within the Chengdu metropolitan area.
Liangshan Prefecture also holds significant advantages. Xichang boasts comprehensive facilities for measurement, control, communication, and spacecraft/rocket assembly, alongside an Aerospace Intelligent Manufacturing Industrial Park capable of batch satellite production and rocket supporting services. The vanadium, titanium, and rare earth resources in the Panxi area are important raw materials for producing specialized aerospace materials. A key point is Xichang's geographical advantage of low latitude and high altitude, which allows for reduced energy consumption and increased payload during rocket launches. It was also noted during the sessions that the Xichang satellite factory is nearing trial production.
Despite clear advantages, the industry requires strengthening and completing its supply chain. Local supporting capacity is insufficient, with noticeable gaps in the upstream and downstream industrial chain. Some delegates and committee members suggested that Sichuan should enhance policy and financial support to address these weaknesses. Proposals include using the Chengdu metropolitan area as a primary platform to guide the orderly transfer of aerospace and supporting industries from eastern coastal regions. Another suggestion involved supporting local government-owned enterprises in collaborating with provincial state-owned enterprises to establish industrial guidance funds, leveraging a "fund-of-funds" model to attract more social capital into commercial aerospace development.
A significant question remains: even if technical hurdles are overcome, will space travel at a cost of 3 million yuan per ticket be accessible to ordinary people? The consensus is that further technological advancements are crucial to substantially reduce the costs of commercial spaceflight. Once rocket payload capacity doubles, enabling high-frequency, environmentally friendly launches, the price of a ticket to space could potentially become comparable to that of a round-the-world airline ticket.