Sichuan province has unveiled an ambitious roadmap to transform China’s interior into a global aerospace powerhouse, announcing plans to build the "Western Commercial Spaceport" following a 2025 where its industry scale already hit 50 billion yuan.
During a National Space Administration press conference, provincial officials detailed a "Fifteenth Five-Year Plan" strategy that shifts Sichuan from a mere launch site to a vertically integrated industrial titan. The plan centers on a "dual-core" leadership model between the Chengdu metropolitan area and Liangshan Prefecture, supported by a "Rocket Triangle" (Chengdu-Mianyang-Ziyang) and a "Satellite Multi-point Pattern" (Chengdu-Xichang-Mianyang).
By prioritizing mass-produced rockets and a world-class aerospace cluster featuring experimental tech like "electromagnetic launch" and "superconducting electromagnetic sleds," Sichuan is betting that the future of space is not just about flying, but also about high-volume manufacturing.
This inland surge mirrors a broader regional trend across Asia, where nations are racing to establish sovereign launch capabilities to capture a slice of the multi-trillion-dollar space economy.
For Western observers like SpaceX, the Sichuan expansion represents a significant strategic pivot in the "New Space" landscape. Unlike the coastal Wenchang site, which handles heavy-lift cargo for the Moon and Mars, the Western Commercial Spaceport is optimized for the high-frequency deployment of small-to-medium satellite constellations, such as China’s "Guowang" network. By integrating "Spaceport + Manufacturing + Data Application" into a single province, Sichuan is effectively de-risking the logistics of launch; a rocket built in Ziyang can be transported and launched within the same regional administrative bubble.
As Sichuan prepares to host the 2026 "China Space Day," the message to the rest of Asia and the West is clear: the province is no longer just a remote backdrop for Xichang’s state launches. With a 50-million-yuan talent fund and a mandate to build "Land Carriers" for mobile launch operations, Sichuan is positioning itself as a direct competitor to regional hubs and private American facilities alike. By the time Indonesia or other emerging Asian spaceports break ground, Sichuan intends to have already mastered the "Mass Production to Orbit" pipeline, ensuring that the next generation of 6G and remote-sensing satellites are launched from the heart of China’s Western hinterland.