According to China Great Wall Industry Corporation, the state-owned company that markets Long March launches internationally, a commercial flight for a telecommunications satellite costs around $70 million. Prices vary widely by rocket, from roughly $30 million for the smaller Long March 2D to about $160 million for the heavy-lift Long March 5.
But those are China’s published prices. Most Chinese launches operate outside that market: they’re purchased domestically in yuan by customers within the same state system that builds the rockets.
Published Chinese Launch Prices
| Vehicle | Operator | Published price | Payload to low Earth orbit | Approximate cost per kg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long March 2D | CASC | About $30 million | 3,500 kg | Roughly $8,600 |
| Long March 3B | CASC | $50 million to $70 million | 11,500 kg to low Earth orbit, 5,500 kg to geostationary transfer orbit | About 70,900 yuan per kg on a 2023 average |
| Long March 5 | CASC | About $160 million | 25,000 kg | Roughly $6,400 |
| Long March, telecom missions | China Great Wall Industry Corporation | About $70 million | Varies by variant | Not published per kg |
| Lijian-2 | CAS Space | About 30,000 yuan per kg | Not published | Roughly $4,350 |
| Zhuque-3 | LandSpace | Target of 20,000 yuan per kg | 11,800 kg expendable | Roughly $2,900 if reached |
Figures are the operators’ own published or reported prices as of 2026. Dollar conversions are approximate and move with the exchange rate. Confirm any current Long March figure with China Great Wall Industry Corporation before using it.
What the $70 Million Price Buys
China Great Wall has held its telecom launch price near $70 million and has said the figure reflects the Long March record rather than a discount strategy. That price buys a launch to geostationary transfer orbit for a communications satellite, the segment where Chinese rockets compete for international business.
The comparison people reach for is Falcon 9, which SpaceX advertises around the same headline number for a much larger payload to low Earth orbit. At the same headline price, Falcon 9 delivers far more mass per dollar.
Export sales are also a small slice of what China launches. Most Long March flights carry Chinese government or state-linked payloads, and the price attached to those is an internal accounting figure rather than a bid.
Per-Kilogram Prices Fell While Per-Flight Prices Held
The Long March 3B averaged about 390 million yuan per mission in 2023 according to figures reported in Chinese industry press, which works out near 70,900 yuan per kilogram against its 5.5-metric-ton capacity to geostationary transfer orbit. That is the baseline China’s commercial newcomers are undercutting.
CAS Space debuted Lijian-2 in April 2026 at about 30,000 yuan per kilogram, roughly $4,350, without reusing anything. Cutting the state rate by more than half on an expendable rocket suggests the older price reflects production methods and overhead rather than physics.
LandSpace has framed Zhuque-3 as cutting Chinese launch costs from about 100,000 yuan per kilogram to about 20,000. Both ends of that claim deserve care. The starting figure is higher than the Long March 3B average above, and the ending figure assumes each booster flies many times.
Reuse Has Not Changed Any Price Yet
No published Chinese launch price reflects a reused booster, because no Chinese booster has flown twice. Two stages came home in 2026: the Long March 10B was caught at sea on 10 July and Zhuque-3 landed on legs on 18 August. The Zhuque-3 stage later toppled after a post-landing fire.
The missing number is refurbishment cost. A booster that comes back and needs its engines rebuilt saves far less than one that needs only an inspection. The difference between those two outcomes is the entire economic case for landing rockets. SpaceX took about fifteen months from its first landing to its first reflight to find out where on that range Falcon 9 sat.
Current status for each Chinese program is on the China reusable rockets page.
Three Things That Hold Chinese Prices Down
Three things hold Chinese launch prices down, and only one of them is reuse.
- Labor and materials. Engineering and manufacturing wages are lower in China than in the United States or Europe, and a rocket is a labor-heavy product built in small numbers.
- Commodity structures. Zhuque-3 uses stainless steel rather than aerospace aluminum alloy. Steel costs a fraction as much per ton and can be welded in an ordinary industrial shop.
- Volume. China flew 92 orbital launches in 2025 and targeted roughly 140 in 2026. Building that many rockets spreads fixed tooling and factory costs across more units than a program flying a handful of times a year.
None of those is a reusability effect. They explain why an expendable Chinese rocket can undercut an expendable Western one, and they set the floor that reuse would then have to beat.
What the Cheap Price Does Not Buy
A low per-kilogram figure is not the whole cost of using a Chinese rocket, and for many satellite operators the constraint is regulatory rather than financial. United States export rules under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), administered by the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, treat most satellite hardware as a controlled item, which effectively blocks American-built satellites from launching on Chinese vehicles. That removes a large share of the commercial market regardless of price.
Insurance and schedule also move the total. A launch is one line in a satellite program that includes the spacecraft, the insurance premium, and the cost of waiting for a slot. An operator choosing between rockets is comparing delivered-to-orbit cost and risk.
What Would Change These Figures
The same distinction between a published price, a stated target and an outside estimate governs the American side, which what a Starship launch costs works through. A reflown Chinese booster would replace every projection here with a rate. Until one flies, the 20,000 yuan per kilogram target is a plan and the published Long March prices are the only measured numbers available.
Wider disclosure would change it too. If Chinese commercial operators begin publishing rate cards the way Western providers do, the per-kilogram column stops being assembled from reported averages. To check a current figure before relying on it, request pricing through the China Great Wall Industry Corporation contact page for Long March missions, and compare it against the published Falcon 9 capabilities page.