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zhongke xingrui/photo provided by peng chunxia/drawing

securities times reporter kang yin

in the early morning of august 3, a major mountain flood and mudslide disaster occurred in ridi village, guza town, kangding city, ganzi prefecture, causing the destruction of ridi tunnel 1 and tunnel 2 on the yakang expressway from kangding to luding, and traffic interruption on the guza town section of national highway 318 in kangding. the xingrui-7 high-resolution optical satellite of china science and technology flew over the disaster area, and compared with historical satellite images, it clearly observed the area after the disaster.

in the face of unpredictable natural disasters, the disaster area images provided by domestic remote sensing satellites are already quite mature. with the rise of commercial satellite companies such as china science star, the analysis and prediction of natural disaster-causing factors, and the provision of post-loan risk management, underwriting pricing, claims settlement and other commercial applications for financial and insurance institutions are becoming increasingly widespread.

indispensable in disaster response

recently, lei bin, chairman of china science and technology star rui, was interviewed by a reporter from securities times and discussed in depth the key role of commercial satellites in disaster emergency response, technological innovation, business layout and future prospects.

"the rapid response capability of commercial satellites allows us to obtain on-site images as soon as a disaster occurs, providing strong support for rescue decisions." lei bin said that when natural disasters occurred in the past, due to harsh on-site conditions, it was difficult for personnel to quickly enter the disaster area and traditional monitoring methods were limited. commercial satellites have become an important way to obtain first-hand disaster information.

on july 6, a serious dam breach occurred on the first line of the dongting lake dike in tuanzhou dike, tuanbei village, tuanzhou township, huarong county, yueyang city, hunan province, causing large areas of the dike to be flooded, houses to be severely damaged, and thousands of residents to be relocated. on the same day, china science starrui responded quickly to the national emergency mechanism for major natural disasters and mobilized starrui-7 and starrui-9 remote sensing satellites to provide accurate image information.

with the continuous advancement of technology, commercial satellite companies such as china science star have established a mature emergency response mechanism: after a disaster occurs, the company will quickly dispatch the satellite closest to the disaster area to take pictures according to the satellite orbit; the images taken will be transmitted back to the data center through the global ground station for processing and analysis; finally, the image information that meets the requirements will be formed and distributed to relevant government departments and users in a timely manner. the efficient operation of the entire process ensures the company's rapid response capability in disaster emergencies.

when talking about technological innovation, lei bin specifically mentioned the breakthrough of china science star in synthetic aperture radar (sar) satellites. sar satellites can actively emit electromagnetic waves and receive their echo signals for imaging, so they can still work normally at night and in bad weather conditions. this feature gives sar satellites an irreplaceable advantage in disaster emergency response.

in fact, commercial satellite companies including china science star and tianyi research institute have made in-depth layouts on sar satellites. in 2023, typhoon dusurui caused widespread flood disasters in my country. during that typhoon, civil and commercial satellites, especially sar satellites, played an important monitoring role, forming coordination and complementation with many national sar satellites including gaofen-3, and played a prominent role in the continuous disaster relief monitoring process.

from disaster response to diversified commercial use

"it has always been one of the responsibilities of commercial satellite companies to take satellite images of disaster areas as soon as possible and provide them to the government and other emergency rescue agencies. however, as a commercial organization, it is equally important to explore the business model and economic value of satellite companies," said lei bin.

in terms of business layout, zhongke xingrui not only focuses on the field of disaster emergency response, but also actively expands cooperation with insurance, power grid and other industries. lei bin gave an example that after the sichuan earthquake, the company used sar satellite technology to provide the state grid with monitoring data on the damage of power transmission lines, helping the power grid company to quickly locate the damaged lines and carry out emergency repairs. similar application cases not only reflect the value of commercial satellites in disaster emergency response, but also show their broad prospects in industry applications.

industry insiders pointed out that although commercial satellites have a wide range of application scenarios, the market with truly stable and large-scale demand is still limited. in particular, scenarios such as disaster emergency response, although important, are not daily operations and are difficult to form a sustainable source of profit. "at present, the business model and profit level of domestic commercial satellites are still at a relatively early stage compared with those abroad." lei bin said that in order to explore the business model, zhongke xingrui does not simply provide satellite data, but goes deep into the front line of institutional customers to understand their needs and then develop valuable products in a targeted manner.

to this end, china science star has established strategic partnerships with a number of insurance companies. by providing satellite image data and professional analysis services, the company helps insurance companies more accurately assess disaster losses and make claims. lei bin said: "this cross-border cooperation not only provides insurance companies with efficient and accurate disaster assessment methods, but also brings us a stable source of income and a wider range of application scenarios."

china reinsurance group has provided risk protection worth over 100 billion yuan for hundreds of “belt and road” projects. as a provider of satellite remote sensing technology, china science and technology starrui has provided remote sensing data and analysis technology support for many of these projects.

in march 2023, china science and technology star rui cooperated with china re group to use satellite remote sensing technology to support the smooth start of construction of china railway construction's major projects in peru. the highway expansion project is located in huanuco province, 280 kilometers northeast of lima, the capital of peru. in order to reasonably determine the pricing and conditions of the insurance for this project, china science and technology star rui integrated the topography, humanities, sensitive targets, remote sensing observation data and other information of each section of the line to conduct a detailed analysis of the risks in the project area. based on timely, comprehensive and transparent information, insurance companies reasonably determined the relevant insurance terms and pricing, and improved the effectiveness of risk management; the insured construction companies combined the risk situation obtained by this observation and subsequent tracking analysis, arranged reasonable protective measures, and effectively achieved risk reduction.

targeted design of supply chain optimization

as a typical representative of new productivity, commercial space is not only an important part of building a space power, but also one of the new growth engines to promote high-quality social and economic development. cost control is an important goal pursued by commercial satellite companies.

in fact, there is a lot of room for china's satellite manufacturing costs to fall. guotai junan analyst zhou tianle pointed out that the manufacturing cost of a single starlink satellite in the united states is about $500,000, and the manufacturing cost of my country's low-orbit communication satellite is about 30 million yuan (about $4.2173 million). according to forbes china, the current single satellite development cost of companies such as galaxy aerospace has dropped to the tens of millions of yuan level, and is in the early stages of cost reduction. in the future, through the improvement of production technology and scale effects, it is hoped that the unit price of satellites can be reduced to the millions of yuan level.

in terms of cost control, zhongke xingrui has continuously reduced the cost of satellite manufacturing through industrial chain restructuring, modular procurement, and optimized design. lei bin gave an example, in the past, satellite antennas needed to be ordered from research institutes, but similar antenna structures are actually very mature in design and manufacturing. for this reason, zhongke xingrui purchased antenna structural parts from a company that is not in the satellite industry. after testing, the results were good and the pricing was significantly reduced. in addition, using more economical industrial-grade or automotive-grade components to replace expensive aerospace-grade components is also a very effective way to reduce costs.

with the development of commercial aerospace, the parts and components needed for satellite manufacturing can be increasingly obtained through market-based procurement, and are no longer completely dependent on aerospace research institutes, which reduces the cost of parts and improves procurement efficiency. "china's manufacturing capabilities are already very strong. through design optimization and open procurement, we can use existing industrial capabilities to reduce the processing costs of satellite parts."

in terms of design, commercial satellite companies do not pursue comprehensive coverage of application scenarios, but optimize the design for key targets, which can reduce unnecessary redundant functions and reduce the complexity and cost of satellites. while maintaining high resolution, costs are reduced by reducing the width of satellite images. for example, for point targets such as hydropower stations, a design width of more than ten kilometers is sufficient. a compromise between technology and cost is made when designing the life of a satellite. "although a longer life is technically achievable, considering the cost of components and the speed of technological updates, it is more economical and reasonable to choose a design life of 3 to 5 years."

self-hematopoietic ability is the key

after years of development, china's commercial space industry has entered the fast lane of development and has achieved breakthroughs from "0 to 1" in many fields.

in terms of enterprises, satellite manufacturing companies represented by changguang satellite, micronano star, and galaxy aerospace, satellite ground equipment companies represented by huali technologies and starnet, satellite communication companies represented by china satcom and xinnuo satellite, satellite navigation companies represented by zhongheda and beidou star communication, and satellite remote sensing companies represented by hangyu micro and zhongke star map have gradually grown into important forces in china's commercial aerospace.

with commercial space being included in the government work report for the first time, the commercial space sector has also ushered in new development opportunities. the blue book of china's space science and technology activities (2023) points out that 2024 is a key year for accelerating the construction of a space power. at this time, good news has been frequently reported in terms of commercial space technology innovation and financing. on june 24, the commercial space company micro-nano star completed a c1 round of financing of 1 billion yuan, becoming a commercial space unicorn company.

according to qichacha data, the number of commercial aerospace-related companies registered in the past decade has gradually increased from 1,022 in 2014 to 16,889 in 2023, more than 16 times the number of registrations 10 years ago. as of august 22, 2024, there are 63,000 commercial aerospace-related companies in my country. in the first half of 2024, a total of 7,425 commercial aerospace-related companies were registered in my country, a decrease of 5.9% compared with the same period in 2023.

in terms of track financing, according to qichacha data, since 2024, my country's commercial aerospace track brand products have completed a total of 46 cases. among them, 10 cases were completed in january, with a total disclosed financing amount of more than 600 million yuan, which is the month with the highest financing frequency so far; followed by july, with a total of 8 cases completed, with a total disclosed financing amount of more than 1 billion yuan.

regarding investment and financing strategies, lei bin said that the company will pay more attention to its own hematopoietic ability and business sustainability rather than over-reliance on external financing. "we hope to attract investors by continuously improving our business level and profitability rather than simply relying on external capital injections." lei bin said, "of course, we are also actively seeking cooperation with investors who can really help us to achieve steady development."

with the support of angel round investment initiated by lihe science and technology and other institutions, zhongke xingrui has grown rapidly and received great help from lihe science and technology during its growth. at present, zhongke xingrui has successfully operated 7 high-resolution remote sensing satellites in orbit and is developing 15 satellites, with the highest resolution of the satellites under development reaching 0.25 meters.

regarding future financing plans, zhongke xingrui will focus on mass production transformation of satellites. it is understood that the current domestic commercial satellite manufacturing is still more in the laboratory or workshop production mode, and has not yet formed an industrialized mass production mode. this is the key direction for reducing costs in the future. lei bin said: "mass production will greatly reduce satellite costs and improve production efficiency. it is an important strategic direction for us." by achieving mass production, production efficiency can be significantly improved and the cost of a single satellite can be reduced. "when the annual output reaches dozens or even hundreds of satellites, small-scale industrial production of commercial satellites can be achieved."

with the support of policies and the continuous advancement of technology, commercial spaceflight is facing unprecedented development opportunities. at the same time, commercial satellite companies are still facing many challenges in terms of cost control and application scenario expansion.