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SpaceX
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SpaceX

SpaceX
SpaceX
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) designs, manufactures and launches the world's most advanced rockets and spacecraft. Based in California, it was founded in 2002 by former PayPal entrepreneur Elon Musk with the aim of revolutionising space transportation.
Chairman / President
Elon Musk
CEO / Managing Director
Elon Musk
CFO / Finance Director
Bret Johnsen
Industry
Aerospace, Space Transportation
Website
spacex.com
Headquarters address
1 Rocket Road, Hawthorne, California, USA
Year founded
2002
LATEST China Science NEWS

Everything we know about China’s mysterious, futuristic Nantianmen Project

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A CCTV report said the “space-sky integrated” fighter jets of the sci-fi Nantianmen Project would one day become reality. Photo: CCTV

Chinese scientists hit breakthrough on 2D semiconductor wafers

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One of the core obstacles to commercialising 2D materials has been the difficulty of producing them uniformly over large areas and at a high quality. Photo: Shutterstock

Steve Durst – the US citizen space diplomat who reached out to China

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Steve Durst (second right) poses with collaboration partners from mainland China, Hong Kong and Thailand at the second International Deep Space Exploration Conference (Tiandu Forum) in Anhui, in September 2024. Photo: Handout

China’s first man in space Yang Liwei officially retires from active duty

Yang Liwei emerges from the Shenzhou-5 re-entry capsule in October 2003. Photo: Handout

China’s green energy leader Inner Mongolia is working on ‘flexible’ power plants

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Inner Mongolia provides 57 per cent of the country’s exploitable wind power. Photo: Handout
MORE China Science NEWS
National University of Defence Technology researchers have called for a “military-civil collaborative” satellite application system to boost the resilience and flexibility of China’s space architecture. Photo: Xinhua
US-China relations

Why China is being told to integrate commercial space tech with military systems

Appeal comes as strategic rivals such as the US are increasingly eyeing military uses for tech developed by private firms such as SpaceX.

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International Space Station (ISS)

4 astronauts arrive at International Space Station to replace Nasa’s crew

China's space programme

Video | Mars to moon shift pits Musk against China in lunar quest

Science

10, 9, 8 ... rocket test puts China neck and neck with US in moon race

Space analysts call China’s successful test a ‘significant milestone’ as SpaceX and Blue Origin vie to provide US lunar lander.

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A rescue ship retrieves the return capsule of China’s new-generation Mengzhou crewed spaceship off the coast of Hainan province on Wednesday. Photo: Xinhua
Science

China’s Mengzhou spacecraft passes key test for 2030 crewed moon mission

Test features first flight and controlled vertical splashdown of a Long March-10 carrier rocket.

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Science

Will Musk’s moon pivot put SpaceX on collision course with China’s ambitions?

Elon Musk shifts short-term sights from Mars to the moon, where the race for prime space could pit his company against Chinese research base.

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Space

SpaceX puts Mars on back burner to focus on moon ‘city’, Musk says

After years of ambitious Mars predictions, Earth’s richest person admits the moon is more achievable in the shorter term.

A full moon eclipse being targeted with a laser from the Foster Observatory telescope in Santiago, Chile in 2025. Photo: AFP
China's space programme

Editorial | Hong Kong need not wait to help Chinese space ambitions take off

As a leading hub for finance and law, the city has the ‘right stuff’ to be proactive in drawing up solid action plans for the space economy.

Science

China sends fourth ‘Shenlong’ reusable spacecraft mission into orbit

Programme for ‘peaceful use of outer space’ launched in 2020 is seen as potential rival to US Space Force’s X-37B.

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Space

Opinion | How US-China space race is blurring line between civilian and military

While the private sector seeks the next trillion-dollar breakthrough, national governments race to secure the orbital assets that now underpin modern deterrence.

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Illustration: Craig Stephens
Solar energy

How Elon Musk’s space-based AI vision sparked a Chinese solar stock frenzy

Musk’s pursuit of space-based data centres has drawn attention to China’s solar industry, sparking market rallies – and calls for caution.

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Discussions between SpaceX and China’s solar suppliers underscore the competitiveness of the country’s solar sector, analysts say. Photo: Reuters
Elon Musk

Elon Musk merges xAI into SpaceX in record-setting deal

The deal is the biggest M&A transaction of all time, with a combined company valuation of US$1.25 trillion.

Science

Chinese satellite forces 4,400 of its Starlink rivals into lower altitude: study

Researchers in China said the SpaceX decision was ‘directly triggered’ by a close call between two satellites in December.

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Science

Letters | Moving to Mars? First, bring the human ego under control

Readers discuss why humanity needs to manage the forces within rather than change planets, and the problem with delegating work to machines.

SpaceX’s Starship lifts off during a flight test in Boca Chica, Texas in 2024. Photo: Reuters
IPO

From labs to listings: capital markets are the next battleground in the AI race

Stock exchanges have become another barometer in the US-China tech rivalry as markets assess a wave of start-ups in real time.

Illustration: Henry Wong
US-China relations

Can Musk’s Starship upend the strategic order? A Chinese think tank warns it may

Report warns the transporter could help the US military move troops and equipment in space and calls for a ‘proactive’ response.

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Mainland China

China’s rocket start-ups push the envelope as IPOs gather pace

A policy-backed push to build commercial space champions is reshaping China’s IPO pipeline, with regulators signalling faster pathways.

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Mainland China

The Chinese satellites SpaceX says were on collision course with Starlink

As orbits become more crowded and littered with debris, the US operator is having to move its devices to dodge damage.

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 27 Starlink satellites into orbit from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on July 2, 2025. Photo: SpaceX/TNS
United States

Bezos’ Blue Origin to deploy thousands of satellites to rival Musk’s Starlink

The TeraWave plan coincides with a rush to build data centres in space that can meet the soaring demand for large-scale AI data processing.

China Future Tech briefing

Aerospace | Chinese rivals to Musk’s Starlink wrestle with rocket constraints

The slow pace of Chinese rocket launches is hampering efforts to create alternatives to SpaceX’s Starlink and damping the government’s drive to pare reliance on US technology.

China's space programme

China’s commercial space sector soars with 50 launches in 2025

Commercial launches accounted for 54 per cent of the total last year, data from China National Space Administration shows.

A Long March-7A carrier rocket, carrying the Shijian-29A and Shijian-29B satellites, blasts off from the Wenchang Space Launch Site in south China’s Hainan province on December 31, 2025. Photo: Xinhua
US-China trade war

AI is reshaping US-China tech race – can electricity tilt the balance?

Already home to world’s largest power system, Beijing moves to lock in advantage through record investment.

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A drone photo taken on December 16, 2025, shows a power transmission line in east China’s Anhui province. Photo: Xinhua
United States

Astronauts splash down on Earth after first-ever medical evacuation

The crew’s mission on the International Space Station was cut short by over a month.

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SCMP Highlights

China’s swipe at Starlink; 2,000-year-old ‘computer’: 7 science highlights

From China’s record-breaking hypergravity machine to geoengineering deserts, here are some highlights from SCMP’s recent science reporting.

Science

Chinese risk study finds space solar power stations could zap satellites

Beijing team finds that potential electrical discharges, though brief, could induce abnormal currents in spacecraft systems.

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Chinese researchers studying the risk of lasers in space say their findings will help guide safer parameters and the design of protective measures. Photo: Shutterstock Images
China stock market

Chinese rocket shares slump after warnings on ‘irrational’ rally

Long-term prospects for sector are ‘very promising’, but market in the short term is ‘mainly driven by speculative sentiment’, analyst says.

A rocket sits in the factory of Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology, a private rocket developer, in Wenchang, in south China’s Hainan province on December 30, 2025. Photo: Xinhua
US-China relations

US moves for AI dominance to outpace China with new ‘overwhelming’ strategy

Pentagon chief urges preventing adversaries from gaining tech edge as he unveils strategy that includes integrating Elon Musk’s chatbot Grok.

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Iran

Iranians use Musk’s Starlink to pierce internet blackout during protests

Smuggled satellite terminals offer a high-risk lifeline as Iran’s protest death toll climbs.

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