Laboratory of GalaxySpace Photo: Courtesy of GalaxySpace
The first smart satellite communication payload, made by Chinese private space firm GalaxySpace's Payload Center based in Hefei, East China's Anhui Province, rolled off its production line recently.
It marks the launch of the firm's intelligent production line for satellite communication payloads, the company told the Global Times on Monday. Once the first phase reaches full capacity, the project will be able to assemble smart communication payloads for launching 50-100 satellites annually.
The satellite communication payload comes as China successfully controlled recovery of a launch vehicle's first stage for the first time and achieved the world's first successful controlled recovery of a launch vehicle's first stage, representing the country's entry into the rocket recovery era.
Industry analysts believe this landmark event will usher China's commercial aerospace industry into a new stage of development characterized by the realization of economies of scale.
The payload production center in Hefei has set up a complete end-to-end chain covering payload research and development, intelligent manufacturing, and integrated satellite-ground testing -- achieving a closed-loop process from technological innovation to engineering, a spokesperson of GalaxySpace told the Global Times.
At the same time, the center is concurrently advancing the construction of a 6G NTN satellite-ground integration laboratory, while exploring cutting-edge space communication technology to seize the high ground in future space communications, the company noted.
As the core component of low-Earth orbit broadband satellites, satellite communication payloads are a major infrastructure project for constructing integrated 6G space infrastructure encompassing communication, navigation, sensing, and computing.
China's commercial space market size reached 2.83 trillion yuan in 2025, which grew 21.7 percent year-on-year, according to the "2026 Outlook on China's Commercial Space Industry Development" report released by CCID, an industry think tank.