Methodology

1. What we include

We include exactly one category of event: events involving a commercial entity, or affecting the commercial space market. Everything else is excluded, specifically: popular-science and astronomy content; purely governmental missions (unless they change the commercial market, e.g. government procurement of commercial launches or opening a space station to commercial use); military space (unless a commercial contractor is involved); academic papers and technical reviews.

Each news item states its “why included” reason so readers can check that we follow this rule.

2. Figures

Every figure must be traceable to a public source, linked on the page. Where no source exists we write “not disclosed” — we do not estimate and we do not cite unnamed “industry insiders”. Valuations, revenue and headcount for private companies are included only when stated by the company, an exchange filing, or a named media report, and we label which. Where sources disagree on a figure’s definition (e.g. net loss vs. net loss attributable to shareholders) we use the official filing’s definition and say so. We do not convert RMB to USD.

3. Facts vs. our take

The factual part of each brief comes from the sources. “Our take” is our own judgement, set apart in its own paragraph and limited to a third of the text. We do not translate source articles wholesale; we extract facts and write our own text.

4. Times

Each item records three times: when the event happened, when the original source published, and when we published. Where a source gives only a date we show only a date. Upcoming launch dates follow the operator’s latest announcement and may change; month-level plans use a mid-month placeholder and say so. All times are Beijing time.

5. Company profiles

Profiles are written from company websites, exchange filings and named media reports, without evaluative adjectives (“leading” and the like). Timelines cover the last 12 months, each entry sourced. Each profile shows its last verification date.

6. The English edition

The English edition covers China’s commercial space sector only. Text is translated from our Chinese edition with machine assistance and spot-checked; where the two differ, the Chinese version prevails. Company and product names follow the companies’ own English usage where one exists (e.g. LandSpace, Zhuque-3, Kinetica-1); otherwise we use pinyin.

7. Corrections

Report errors via the About page. Confirmed corrections are noted on the original page with the correction and date; we do not edit silently.

8. Main sources

Company websites and press releases; filings with the Shanghai Stock Exchange STAR Market, the CSRC, the US SEC, the Tokyo Stock Exchange and Euronext; SpaceNews, Payload, Spaceflight Now, Space.com, NASASpaceflight, European Spaceflight, Via Satellite, Business Wire, GlobeNewswire; and on the Chinese side, named reports from Xinhua, China News Service, The Paper, Sina Finance, 21st Century Business Herald and Taibo.