China is aiming for a much faster launch year
China could attempt around 140 orbital launches in 2026, a figure that would mark another major jump in the country’s space activity if achieved. The target was cited by Yang Yiqiang, founder and chairperson of CAS Space, and reported through Chinese-language media and SpaceNews. It follows a national record of 92 orbital launches in 2025.
The scale of the increase is the story. Moving from 92 launches to around 140 would amount to roughly a 52% year-over-year rise, following an earlier increase from 68 launches in 2024 to 92 in 2025. Taken together, those gains suggest that China’s launch sector is not just growing steadily but accelerating.
Infrastructure is catching up with ambition
Such a target would be difficult to take seriously without corresponding growth in launch infrastructure, but that is exactly where the source points. China’s rising cadence is being supported by expanded facilities at multiple sites, including Jiuquan, commercial launch pads on Hainan near Wenchang, and an enlarged coastal maritime launch complex in Haiyang, Shandong province.
That matters because launch rates are not determined by rocket availability alone. Pad access, integration capacity, range operations, transport logistics, and recovery ambitions all shape how often a country can actually fly. China appears to be building out the physical backbone required for a denser manifest.
Commercial players are becoming more central
The target also reflects the growing role of Chinese commercial launch firms. CAS Space is one of several companies highlighted alongside Landspace, iSpace, Space Pioneer, and Galactic Energy. These firms are part of a broader push toward reusable launch capability, while some newer entrants are reportedly planning much larger vehicles modeled in ambition, if not execution, on SpaceX’s Starship.
CAS Space itself underlined that momentum by completing the first launch of its kerosene-liquid oxygen Kinetica-2 rocket on March 30, sending three spacecraft into orbit, including a prototype freighter. The company says it plans around 13 launches this year across its Kinetica-1 and Kinetica-2 vehicles, with the latter expected to include constellation missions.
That mix of state-supported expansion and private-sector competition is becoming more important in China’s space narrative. For years, the country’s launch profile was dominated by the Long March family and state-owned institutions. Those still matter enormously, but the market is becoming more crowded and more dynamic.
The reusable launch race is broadening
One of the more consequential details in the report is the breadth of China’s reusable launch push. Early commercial movers are pursuing reusability, and the state-owned Long March line is expanding with new reusable rockets of its own. That indicates reusability is no longer a niche aspiration within China’s space sector. It is becoming a central competitive requirement.
Reusability does not automatically translate into immediate high flight rates, but it aligns with the long-term goal Yang reportedly described: no fewer than 100 launches per year involving large liquid-propellant rockets, alongside a growing annual satellite count. Those numbers imply a future built around mass deployment, constellation support, and sustained industrial throughput rather than isolated prestige missions.
How it compares internationally
The comparison with the United States remains stark. SpaceNews noted that the U.S. conducted 193 orbital launch attempts in 2025, including 165 Falcon 9 missions, with Starlink serving as the single largest customer. China is not overtaking that level yet. But a move to around 140 launches would reduce the gap substantially and reinforce China’s position as the most significant national challenger to U.S. launch scale.
The comparison is also a reminder that cadence is now a strategic metric. Launch activity is no longer simply about symbolic national capability. It is tied to satellite deployment, military resilience, logistics, communications infrastructure, and commercial broadband ambitions.
Why this matters beyond launch counts
Headline numbers are easy to overstate, but they do capture something real: China is building a launch ecosystem designed for volume. New infrastructure, multiple vehicle families, reusable development, and rising commercial participation all point in the same direction. If the country reaches its 2026 target, it will not just be because demand rose. It will be because a more scalable industrial and operational base is starting to come together.
That makes the 140-launch figure important even if it ends up being revised downward. As a target, it reveals the level of confidence inside China’s launch sector. As a benchmark, it gives the rest of the industry a clearer sense of what Beijing and its commercial partners believe is operationally achievable in the near term.
For the global space market, that means the next phase of competition is likely to be defined not only by who can reach orbit, but by who can do it repeatedly, commercially, and at national scale. China is signaling that it intends to be in that contest at much higher speed.
This article is based on reporting by SpaceNews. Read the original article.
