Space-Time Dao Yu: From the Asian Games to the Asian Winter Games, full coverage of commercial aerospace technology support.
In October 2024, on the eve of the US presidential election, SpaceX, entrusted by Trump, provided free satellite communication services for vehicles and residents in the areas affected by Hurricane Helene in the United States, ensuring communication in the disaster-stricken areas. Trump specifically mentioned this matter in his subsequent victory speech and highly praised the value of satellite communication;
In September, the 10th satellite of the third orbit of Geely Constellation was successfully launched into orbit. Thus, with 30 satellites in three orbital planes, the constellation has achieved coverage of 90% of the global area for 24 hours, and Chinese commercial aerospace enterprises have for the first time provided satellite communication services to global users;
In August, Morgan Stanley released an in-depth report on SpaceX, estimating that SpaceX's revenue could reach 13 billion US dollars in 2024, with a year-on-year growth of 54%, and the company is currently in a profitable state;
In March, commercial aerospace was written into the government work report for the first time. This is the second time that the commercial aerospace industry has been mentioned after the Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of 2023, and its positioning has changed from a "strategic emerging industry" to a "new growth engine".
In the past year, the commercial aerospace market has been full of changes.
In fact, just on December 17, at the delivery ceremony of the official designated vehicles for the 9th Asian Winter Games in Harbin 2025, SpaceTimeDaoYu announced that it has become the aerospace technology support partner of the Geely Asian Winter Games service team, providing high-precision positioning services and satellite communication technology for the official designated vehicles of the Asian Winter Games.
This Chinese company has become the world's first commercial aerospace enterprise to provide services for both the Asian Games and the Asian Winter Games.
The landing process of China's commercial aerospace industry has pressed the accelerator.
01. Capital Influx, Rapid Explosion
In recent years, the number of enterprises related to China's commercial aerospace field has shown an explosive growth. In a depressed investment environment, commercial aerospace has become one of the few popular investment tracks.
According to public data statistics, in 2023, there were about 170 financings in China's commercial aerospace field, with a total disclosed amount of more than 18.5 billion yuan.
According to the data from Qichacha, in the past ten years, the number of registrations of commercial aerospace-related enterprises in China has soared from 1,022 in 2014 to more than 196,900 in 2024; among them, 2020 was a period of high growth, with 20,200 related enterprises registered throughout the year, with a year-on-year growth of 103.85%.
However, in fact, the development of China's commercial aerospace industry has only been going on for ten years - compared with many established European and American countries, this starting point is not early.
From the Cold War period to the 1990s, overseas communication giants, such as Motorola, began to conduct research and development on the commercial satellite communication industry. After SpaceX was established in 2002, it continued to deepen its efforts in this field and established the Starlink business in 2014 to provide commercial satellite Internet broadband services to the world.
However, since it was opened to the market in 2014, China's commercial aerospace market has begun to develop steadily. Especially in 2020, the National Development and Reform Commission included satellite Internet in the category of new infrastructure construction (new infrastructure) for the first time, and the market ushered in a rapid explosion.
According to the data from the "Blue Book of China Aerospace Science and Technology Activities (2023)", in 2023, China carried out a total of 67 aerospace launches, accounting for 30% of the global total launches, second only to the 116 launches in the United States.
Among them, 26 were commercial launches, with a launch success rate of 96%; 120 commercial satellites were developed and launched throughout the year, accounting for 54% of the total.
This shows that China's technological accumulation and industrial chain construction in the commercial aerospace field have entered the world's leading ranks, and the industry is gradually moving towards an efficient and low-cost sustainable development direction.
Compared with the traditional aerospace model dominated by the state and focused on scientific research, commercial aerospace aims at making profits as its main goal, has a stronger inclusiveness for new technologies and new concepts, and the decision-making, research and development, and production processes are also more efficient.
In fact, currently, commercial satellites have become inseparable from our lives. At present, there are more than 350 commercial satellites in orbit in China, which are widely used in many fields such as communication, remote sensing, and navigation. From travel navigation to emergency communication, from weather forecasting to television broadcasting, it seems that satellites are involved in every aspect of life.
In particular, the application of satellite Internet technology has gradually covered traditional communication blind areas such as remote areas and ocean navigation, bringing more extensive economic and social benefits. At the same time, with the continuous progress of technology, the cost of low-orbit satellites has dropped significantly, and commercial aerospace will be more popular in the future, promoting the further deepening of global digital development and social informatization construction.
02. Industrial Landing, Global Acceleration
Commercial aerospace is a typical multi-field, multi-disciplinary, and complex cross-industry.
From the perspective of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, the upstream of the commercial aerospace industry includes commercial infrastructure and auxiliary industries, such as ground stations and equipment, satellite manufacturing, launch services, insurance, etc.; the downstream mainly includes commercial aerospace products and services, such as satellite navigation, communication, broadcasting, and remote sensing observation.
According to the data from the American Space Foundation, in 2022, the scale of the commercial aerospace market reached 427.6 billion US dollars, of which the downstream commercial aerospace products and services revenue was 288 billion US dollars, accounting for 67%. Some relevant institutions predict that by 2025, the scale of China's commercial aerospace core market will exceed 300 billion yuan, and with the associated market, the overall annual market scale may be close to one trillion yuan.
As mentioned above, different from the traditional aerospace industry, the main purpose of commercial aerospace enterprises is to complete the commercial closed loop and successfully achieve profitability.
However, this is not a simple matter.
Everyone knows that the technical threshold and safety operation requirements of the aerospace industry are very high.
The person in charge of SpaceTimeDaoYu told 36Kr that commercial aerospace involves complex technology development, and its research and development and deployment costs are high. At the same time, the market's demand for low cost and high reliability is becoming more and more intense. How to reduce launch and operation costs through technological innovation while ensuring service quality is the key problem to complete the commercial closed loop.
Even the industry leader SpaceX has gone through 20 years of exploration and accumulation. It was not until November last year that its Starlink satellite Internet service achieved a balance of payments. During this period, many commercial aerospace competitors have fallen into difficulties or even gone bankrupt due to long-term losses.
However, with the continuous maturity of satellite communication technology, the profit model of commercial aerospace is gradually becoming clear. Especially driven by consumer applications, the industry is accelerating its development.
Since the second half of 2023, satellite communication has rapidly become an industry hotspot and has entered the attention of ordinary consumers.
At present, satellite communication is one of the clearest profit scenarios in commercial aerospace. By networking satellites in the air to provide signals, "there will be no network that cannot be connected".
Among them, mobile phones and automobiles have become two core application scenarios.
In terms of mobile phones, since the "Star Wars" in the last century, communication giants such as Motorola have been continuously investing in mobile satellite communication technology. Currently, with more mature technology, more and more mobile phone manufacturers realize mobile phone direct connection to satellite communication services by installing chips in the mobile phones in advance.
In the automotive field, automobiles with stronger power consumption, endurance, and satellite receiving capabilities are a broader market for satellite communication. Especially in the context of autonomous driving and intelligent networking, on-board satellite communication not only improves the communication capabilities of vehicles in remote areas, but also provides a stable technical support for future intelligent travel.
As early as September last year, SpaceTimeDaoYu and Zeekr launched in-depth cooperation. Based on the core technical capabilities of the Geely Constellation, they released the world's first mass-produced passenger vehicle with satellite communication, the Zeekr 001 FR, providing two-way satellite messaging and satellite call services, and realizing the R & D and production of aerospace products at the vehicle regulation level for the first time.
Since then, most Zeekr models such as the Zeekr 009 Glory Edition, Zeekr 001, Zeekr 007, and Geely Galaxy E8 can be equipped with two-way satellite communication functions.
As early as 2018, Li Shufu strategically invested in SpaceTimeDaoYu. In the following year, SpaceTimeDaoYu started the design and planning of the Geely Constellation.
Similar to SpaceX + Tesla under Musk, the deep integration of SpaceTimeDaoYu and Geely Group has greatly accelerated the process of the landing of commercial aerospace technology in vehicles.
In fact, the speed of SpaceX landing on Tesla may be even slower. According to Julien Villa-Massone, a Starlink software developer, SpaceX is currently developing a plan for Tesla cars to directly connect to satellites. It is expected that by the end of this year, all Tesla cars equipped with 4G functions are expected to obtain basic network access with a bandwidth of about 18 Mbps shared within every 150 kilometers, which can be used for emergency calls.
The research and development of on-board satellite communication is not simple, especially when the vehicle is driving in extreme environments such as extremely hot, extremely cold, and complex terrain.
Take the on-board centimeter-level high-precision positioning service and satellite communication support system provided by SpaceTimeDaoYu in this Asian Winter Games as an example. The person in charge of SpaceTimeDaoYu told 36Kr that due to the large number of ice and snow environments involved in the Asian Winter Games, the project team faced many technical challenges in the early stage of development, including: the reliability of equipment in extremely cold environments, the blocking and interference of signals by a variety of complex terrains, and the real-time guarantee of services in alpine regions, etc.
In order to ensure the stable operation of the system in extremely cold weather, all equipment in this project adopts low-temperature resistant materials and low-power consumption design to ensure that the system can still work stably at minus 40°C; an advanced signal anti-interference algorithm is adopted to ensure the stability of signal transmission in complex weather conditions, such as heavy snow or strong wind.
At the same time, the SpaceTime project team also integrates the core technologies of SpaceTimeDaoYu in the fields of low-orbit satellite communication, high-precision positioning, and intelligent networking, and covers the Asian Winter Games venues with a dual-redundancy design of space-based and ground-based dual links to provide precise positioning services and satellite communication technology.
In addition to serving the Asian Games and the Asian Winter Games, SpaceTimeDaoYu has already stepped out of Asia.
As early as the beginning of June this year, SpaceTimeDaoYu completed the first overseas commercial deployment test of the Geely Constellation in the Middle East and reached a strategic cooperation with a local company to provide services such as remote monitoring, data transmission, and emergency communication for important oil and gas production areas.
At present, SpaceTimeDaoYu has signed contracts with many overseas operators. Combining market demand and integrating the rich port and agricultural resources in the local area, it accelerates the landing of solutions such as smart ports and smart agriculture.
It is an indisputable fact that the aerospace industry has always been a competition among major countries. A large number of countries and regions around the world do not have the ability to independently build satellite constellations and carry out satellite applications.
As early as the initial stage of constellation planning and construction in 2021, SpaceTimeDaoYu simultaneously planned and prepared for overseas businesses; this strategic layout fully considers the needs of the global market and industry trends.
Wang Yang, the CEO of SpaceTimeDaoYu, once pointed out in an interview with the media that currently, 94% of the places in the world still have no signal coverage. As humans continue to expand the boundaries of space, conquer deserts, islands, uninhabited areas, and even explore interstellar travel, our mobile phones, cars, and aircraft all need ubiquitous data connections.
In front of China's commercial aerospace industry is a huge global opportunity.
03. "We Are Building Satellites Just Like Building Cars" And Achieving a Commercial Closed Loop
At present, the focus of competition in the global commercial aerospace industry is mainly in the orbit and spectrum of satellites, as well as the cost and production capacity.
Needless to say, the orbit and spectrum. Adhering to the principle of "first come, first served", the world is currently seizing orbit and spectrum resources in a land-grabbing manner and accelerating the satellite launch progress.
Since the constellation design was launched in 2019, SpaceTimeDaoYu is about to complete the deployment of 72 satellites in the first phase of the Geely Constellation, achieving real-time global data communication, providing medium and low-speed satellite communication services for global users, and supporting more than 200 million users worldwide.
For commercial constellations, satellite manufacturing is the major cost in the current industrial chain and is also a "battleground" in the current global commercial aerospace field.
In this field, the Geely Satellite Super Factory realizes the disruptive innovation of satellite mass production AIT by drawing on the intelligent and automated large-scale mass production manufacturing model of the automotive industry, significantly compressing the satellite design and production cycle to within 28 days, breaking through the production capacity limitations of traditional satellite manufacturing, and achieving an annual production capacity of 500 satellites. While improving the mass production capacity of satellites, the production cost has been reduced by 45%.
"We are building satellites just like building cars." The person in charge of SpaceTimeDaoYu once said in an interview with the media.
In addition to the research and development and manufacturing of satellites, commercial aerospace is also an industry that highly relies on the upstream and downstream industrial chains, covering multiple links such as satellite manufacturing, ground station construction, and data application. To achieve a commercial closed loop, it is necessary to establish a complete and healthy industrial ecosystem to ensure seamless connection of all links and reduce the risk of industrial chain disruption.
At present, SpaceTimeDaoYu has formed a full industrial chain layout covering satellite research and development, manufacturing, measurement and control, and application, and has full independent control capabilities from core technologies to terminal services.
At present, SpaceTimeDaoYu has established R & D centers in Shanghai, Nanjing, Xi'an, and Wuhan, and set up the satellite communication business operation headquarters in Qingdao, and business centers in Beijing and New York; in Taizhou, Zhejiang, a satellite super factory is established as a satellite manufacturing base.
Referring to the 10 - 15-year profit cycle of the generally common constellation projects in the industry such as Starlink, the Geely Constellation is expected to achieve profitability around 2027.
Conclusion: New Growth Engine, New Infrastructure
In March this year, commercial aerospace was written into the government work report of our country for the first time, positioned as a "new growth engine". And earlier, in 20