China is expanding and diversifying its launch infrastructure to meet the growing demand from the commercial space industry, with its offshore launch platforms, commercial spaceports and dedicated launch pads opening up new avenues for private rocket makers to send spacecraft into orbit.

A typical example is a commercial rocket carrying nine satellites that lifted off from a ship in the East China Sea near Shanghai in September this year. Although the densely populated economic hub has no traditional rocket launch site, sea-based launches are able to connect Shanghai to the country's growing space industry.

China's first sea launch took place in 2019, off the coast of Haiyang in east China's Shandong Province. The coastal city has since built a spaceport for rocket assembly, testing and launch operations. Teng Yao, chief engineer of the spaceport, said sea launches offer greater flexibility in choosing launch locations and trajectories, and allow rocket debris to fall into waters that are unpopulated.

Wenchang in south China's Hainan Province, which hosts a launch site tasked with missions of launching space station modules and lunar probes, has added facilities specifically for commercial rocket and satellite launches since 2024.

Meanwhile, the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China has developed launch pads tailored to private rocket makers.

Access to launch pads has been a challenge for China's commercial space sector. Wang Lifeng, a professor at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, cited limited launch capacity, tight schedules and long distances between launch sites and rocket assembly facilities as constraints on growth.

Large satellite networks like Qianfan (or Spacesail) and GW constellations, which each have more than 10,000 satellites, further increase the need for a steady flow of launches.