China's electric launch technology could challenge SpaceX's chemical rockets

China’s electric launch technology stems from a two-decade-old idea and could potentially make SpaceX’s chemical rockets obsolete

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Chao Kongin Beijing

Published: 9:00am, 1 Jul 2026

With SpaceX completing the biggest public offering in history, Elon Musk’s reusable chemical rockets seem to be the only game in town for getting to space.

But halfway around the globe, in a little-known Chinese town tucked against the Tibetan Plateau could change all that.

In late March, the government of the city of Ziyang said a research facility successfully tested a high-temperature superconducting navigation system, which they said was a breakthrough in electromagnetic rocket launch technology.

Through this and several other similar programmes across the nation, Chinese scientists are working on a way to catapult rockets off the ground using electricity, before the chemical engines ever kick in.

“The concept of building an electromagnetic launch orbit in the high-altitude and thin-air areas of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau was proposed by some particularly bold and talented young people within China’s space industry more than two decades ago,” a Beijing-based space scientist said last week. He spoke on the condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

“Many difficulties will be encountered during the implementation of this project, but it is feasible from an engineering perspective.”