A pair of satellites to observe electromagnetic signals was sent into orbit via a Long March 11 carrier rocket from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province on Dec 10.

The Long March 11 carrier rocket is assembled and tested in Haiyang, a county-level city in Yantai.

Haiyang acts as a service port for rocket launches and has great potential in developing its aerospace industry.

As a coastal city, Haiyang enjoys a robust transport network that is well connected with other regions, as well as strong shipbuilding and marine engineering industries. It also has many ground-based monitoring and tracking facilities along China's eastern coast.

The city plans to set up a manufacturing complex for solid-propellant carrier rockets, which is capable of producing 20 solid-propellant rockets each year.

The complex will be developed into a high-tech commercial aerospace industrial cluster in five years which integrates R&D, manufacturing, launches, applications, support facilities and cultural tourism.

As an industrial hub in Shandong, Yantai is aspiring to develop a space industry to tap into the rapidly expanding commercial space market. The city government said its goal is to build Haiyang into a "home port for space activity".