China's Own Elon Musks Are Racing to Catch Up to SpaceX

China is pushing its commercial space industry to grow in a bid to spur greater innovation and close the gap with Elon Musk's SpaceX.

- Clarence Leong

At least six Chinese rockets designed with reusability in mind are planned to have their maiden flights this year. In November, the country's first commercial launch site began operating. Beijing and local governments are giving private-sector companies cash injections of billions of dollars.

The rise of these companies is the latest stage in Beijing's longstanding effort to build up an indigenous space industry that isn't dependent on Western technology. For years, the government has held up the space industry as a success story of high-tech businesses that have developed largely without foreign help.

Technological self-sufficiency, from semiconductors to artificial intelligence, has taken on greater urgency as Beijing aims to build "fortress China" to steel itself in its growing rivalry with the U.S.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, at a rare meeting with tech CEOs and other executives in February, said he wanted a competitive private sector that drives growth and innovation—a formula that is now being applied in the space industry. The boss of GalaxySpace, a satellite manufacturer, was among the corporate chiefs who met Xi.

China opened up the space industry to private companies in 2014 and mentioned the commercial space business for the first time last year in the government's annual report on its priorities.

Lincoln Hines, an assistant professor at Georgia Tech, said Beijing was concerned that it couldn't keep up with the U.S. if it relied solely on state-owned companies.