(Yicai Global) Feb. 19 -- Geely Holding Group’s satellite plant has received the greenlight from government regulators to operate, the Chinese auto giant said yesterday. It will be the country’s first commercial satellite factory to combine both aerospace and car-making technologies.

Taizhou Xingkong Zhilian Technology is expected to start production in October with an annual output of more than 500 satellites, the company said. The project is being run by unit Geely Technology Group which has invested CNY2.3 billion (USD350.6 million) in it so far.

The satellite production base, located in coastal Taizhou, eastern Zhejiang province, will carry out research and development, manufacture core components, test, operate and control satellites, as well as build aerospace materials and cloud-computing Big Data platforms.

It will feature state-of-the-art equipment, including vehicles that can turn in different directions, coordinated robots, automatic assembly platforms and multi-function testing platforms, it said. It will be able to cater to the short cycles for R&D of micro and small satellites, the fast renewal of technologies and highly density of functions.

Geely Tech, which also deals in materials technology, new energy technology, travel services, motorcycles and aviation, has built an entire satellite industrial chain from their design and development to their manufacture, transportation and launch. It is planning on investing CNY4.1 billion (USD636.3 million) in a satellite network in Qingdao, northeastern Shandong province. The project, called the Qingdao Shanghe Aerospace Technology, is expected to get off the ground soon.

Editor: Kim Taylor