As SpaceX's IPO reshapes capital flows, mainland Chinese investors are insuring rivals in the orbital race. This strategy emerged after a 2016 SpaceX rocket explosion highlighted the need for robust insurance.

This is part of a series on the global impact of SpaceX’s historic IPO, tracing how mainland Chinese investors’ strategies, the Hong Kong market and wider capital flows are being reshaped by Elon Musk’s trillion-dollar rocket gamble. In 2016, a SpaceX rocket carrying a satellite blew up during a test, destroying on-board equipment and surrounding facilities worth millions of US dollars. Fortunately, the satellite operator, Israel’s Space Communications, had an insurance policy worth almost...