China’s first open shared platform for commercial space tracking, telemetry and command (TT&C) services officially began operations Aug. 19 in Beijing, supporting the full measurement and control process for the launch of a Honghu-03 satellite and the recovery of a reusable rocket booster.
The Beijing Rocket Street Commercial Space Intelligent TT&C Center, located in Beijing E-Town more than 1,000 kilometers from the launch site, supported the launch of the Zhuque-3 reusable launch vehicle at the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone. The mission placed Honghu-03 into its designated orbit and completed China’s first land-based recovery of a launch vehicle’s first-stage landing legs.
The center’s involvement created an integrated “rocket, satellite and TT&C” chain within Beijing E-Town, allowing local companies to participate not only in spacecraft and launch-vehicle manufacturing, but also in mission control and satellite operations.
A shared command center for commercial missions
Built by Aerospace Long March Rocket Technology Co., Ltd., a Beijing E-Town company, the center is one of six common-service platforms being developed as part of Beijing Rocket Street. It consists of a mission control hall, a data-center facility and intelligent center software.
Its 10 core functions include mission planning, ground-station network scheduling, orbit determination, telemetry and telecommand, multi-satellite scheduling and resource management, data processing and analysis, intelligent fault diagnosis, emergency response, long-term operations support, integrated situational monitoring and digital mission simulation.
Interior of the Beijing Rocket Street Commercial Space Intelligent TT&C Center
These capabilities are designed to consolidate functions that are often distributed among launch sites, satellite operators, ground-station providers and separate control centers. For commercial companies, the model can reduce the need to establish independent control rooms and technical teams for every mission, while providing a common operational environment for launch and in-orbit activities.
From launch-site data to in-orbit operations
The center uses a standardized aerospace architecture integrated with artificial-intelligence models, cloud computing and big-data technologies. Its stated service scope covers low Earth orbit, high Earth orbit and cislunar space, with support for launch-site TT&C, flight-range operations, recovery-zone tracking and long-term satellite management.
The center is designed to support at least 200 commercial rocket launch or recovery missions annually and provide TT&C services for at least 5,000 commercial satellites. Its planned architecture is described as supporting “1,000 rockets, 10,000 satellites and 100 stations,” indicating an emphasis on network-scale operations rather than one-off mission support.
During a launch, the center receives data from geographically distributed tracking and control stations, calculates the vehicle’s trajectory, parses telemetry and monitors flight status. After a spacecraft reaches orbit, the same infrastructure can monitor satellite health, receive and process downlinked data, and support satellite operations for communications, navigation, scientific exploration and other applications.
That combination is increasingly important as commercial operators move from individual spacecraft toward large constellations. At constellation scale, the main challenge is not simply obtaining access to ground stations, but coordinating contacts, allocating antennas, processing telemetry and responding to anomalies across many spacecraft. Centralized software and automated scheduling can help manage these activities more consistently, although operational reliability, cybersecurity and human oversight remain critical requirements.
Dual-link display demonstrated during Zhuque-3 mission
The Zhuque-3 mission provided an initial operational demonstration of the center’s capabilities. Using dedicated relay equipment and a distributed-seat system, the center connected to the launch site and received the rocket’s downlinked telemetry in real time.
It also integrated video imagery with rocket-status parameters in a dual-link display. This allowed controllers and mission personnel to view visual information and key flight data in a unified operating environment.
The center continued receiving satellite TT&C data after separation and displayed the mission status from spacecraft separation through satellite orbit insertion. It supported the complete sequence covering rocket ascent, first-stage vertical landing and satellite insertion into orbit.
During the Zhuque-3 mission
For reusable launch vehicles, this type of integrated monitoring is particularly valuable because the mission does not end at payload deployment. The booster’s trajectory, descent profile, landing status and post-flight data must also be followed in real time. A shared center capable of supporting both launch and recovery operations can therefore serve as an important part of the infrastructure required for higher launch cadence.
Completing Beijing E-Town’s commercial space chain
The center adds a key operational layer to Beijing E-Town’s commercial space ecosystem, linking spacecraft and launch-vehicle manufacturing with launch services, TT&C and space-data applications.
Beijing Rocket Street is being developed as a national commercial-space research and production base. Its planned facilities include an innovation and research center, a high-end manufacturing center, a common testing center and an exhibition and operations-control center.
In addition to the TT&C center, Beijing Rocket Street is establishing five other platforms: a common commercial-space testing platform, a commercial-space public-service platform, a one-stop platform for product reliability and application support, a commercial space-and-time information data service platform, and a space situational-awareness industry service platform.
This structure reflects a broader shift in China’s commercial space sector from isolated manufacturing projects toward integrated industrial clusters. Shared testing, operations and data services can be particularly significant for smaller companies that may have spacecraft or payload expertise but lack the resources to build complete mission-support infrastructure.
Industrial capacity planned for the next phase
More than 2,500 mu of aerospace industrial space is being developed through the Air-and-Space District, also known as the Satellite Internet Supply Chain Industrial Park. Nine capacity-building projects are under construction, supporting Beijing E-Town’s goal of developing “thousand-satellite” production and deployment capabilities across the commercial space supply chain.
During China’s 15th Five-Year Plan period, Beijing E-Town plans to support the development and industrial production of large reusable launch vehicles and new-generation internet satellites, as well as more frequent, airline-style launch operations. It also plans to promote deeper integration between commercial space and artificial intelligence while developing new applications linked to the emerging space economy.
The TT&C center gives this industrial strategy an operational layer, connecting satellite and launch-vehicle manufacturing with launch services, ground infrastructure and data applications. For international customers planning a satellite project, this expanding ecosystem creates more options for sourcing cost-competitive satellites, payloads, ground systems and integrated space solutions from China. If you are planning a satellite constellation or looking to source space products and services from China, contact our team for a customized solution.
