The platform is located at the Oriental Aerospace Port in Haiyang, in east China’s Shandong Province—the country’s only commercial maritime launch base—and is now in the final stage of construction, News.Az reports, citing Xinhua.
According to a video report aired by China Media Group on Thursday, the facility is expected to be ready for trial operations from around February 5, ahead of China’s first maritime launch and recovery attempt involving a commercial liquid-fueled rocket. That mission is anticipated to take place around the Chinese New Year holiday.
The move aligns with China’s broader strategy to further develop its space industry and addresses one of the central challenges of commercial spaceflight: achieving affordable and frequent access to orbit through rocket reusability, the report said.
Built on a man-made island about three kilometers off the coast of Shandong, the test platform is taking shape at a rapid pace. More than 150 workers are currently engaged in welding, hoisting equipment and coordinating heavy machinery under winter conditions.
At the heart of the facility is a launch stand fitted with a hydraulic erector system. Four massive hydraulic cylinders installed in a deep pit will raise rockets weighing hundreds of tonnes from a horizontal position to vertical before launch.
Nearby, a 17-meter-deep flame trench has been constructed to channel exhaust plumes exceeding 3,000 degrees Celsius during ignition. A surrounding water deluge system will cool the exhaust, suppress acoustic energy and protect critical launch infrastructure.
The Haiyang Oriental Aerospace Port already has a solid operational record, having successfully carried out 22 sea launches that placed 137 satellites into orbit. All of those missions, however, relied on solid-fuel rockets, which are valued for their mobility and flexibility but are constrained by lower payload capacity and the fact that they are not reusable.
The new offshore platform is designed specifically for liquid-fueled rockets, which offer greater lift capability and, crucially, the potential for reuse. Reusability is regarded as a key economic driver for the large-scale deployment of satellite constellations and a core development direction for China’s commercial launch sector.
The platform is part of a comprehensively planned zone that includes supporting infrastructure such as storage facilities for liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, kerosene and methane. These systems will handle propellant loading, pressurization and pipeline purging for next-generation liquid rocket operations.
It also represents a key node in Shandong’s expanding aerospace ecosystem, which now spans launch services, rocket manufacturing and satellite applications across several cities, including Yantai, Jinan and Qingdao.
In November 2025, China unveiled a three-year action plan covering 2025 to 2027 to promote the high-quality and safe development of its commercial space sector. The plan aims to integrate commercial space activities into the national space strategy and foster new drivers of productivity.
China’s commercial space industry maintained rapid growth in 2025, completing 50 launches over the year, according to the China National Space Administration. Those launches accounted for 54 percent of the country’s total space missions in 2025, with 25 carried out by commercial launch vehicles.
A total of 311 commercial satellites were placed into orbit last year, representing 84 percent of all Chinese satellites launched in 2025, the CNSA said.
