Professor Shen Yingchun from Beihang University said China does not need to and cannot copy the SpaceX model. She stressed that China's approach focuses on scale and national resources.
Shen Yingchun made the remarks in an interview with Beijing Daily. SpaceX went public on Friday, raising US$75 billion and making chief executive Elon Musk the world's first trillionaire.
She said the strength of the US model is efficiency, using the market to drive down costs and force companies to innovate. China's commercial space sector is instead focusing on building satellite networks before cutting costs.
“The strength of the Chinese model is scale – using the national will to concentrate resources and systematically address issues such as infrastructure, setting standards and risk sharing, where markets typically fail,” Shen said.
She added that once this infrastructure is in place, the country's space industry would have the chance to make a big leap forward in areas such as smart cities and the low-altitude economy.
