Space is a frontier that could soon fall to privately funded Chinese start-ups looking for commercial opportunities created by the sky-high costs of the state-run space programme, which one expert describes as “probably the most expensive in the world”.

太空是一个前沿领域，可能很快就会出现私人资助的中国初创企业，从专家形容为“世界上最贵的”高成本的国营太空计划中寻找商业机会。

Visitors to the simple but sleek website of Beijing-based One Space Technology are greeted with the slogan “We create space express”.

北京零壹空间网站用简单亲切的口号“让太空之旅像打车一样便捷”来迎接访客。

With its first commercial rocket launch scheduled for 2018, the private aerospace company has vowed to become China’s version of US rocket launch firm SpaceX, with a low-cost launch vehicle that would “make a space journey as convenient as hailing a cab”.

凭借2018年其首个商用火箭发射计划，民营航空公司发誓要成为美国火箭发射公司SpaceX的中国版，运用低成本的运载火箭， 让太空之旅像打车一样便捷。

In the short-term the launch cost can be reduced to 50 per cent of the ‘national team’, and just one-tenth in the long run.---Qi Shiyang, Chun Xiao Capital