China completes first full-scale test for its reusable space rocket

Asia-Pacific, News November 12, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

China’s Beijing-based space company iSpace completed the first full-scale test of its reusable space rocket. The successful launch and recovery test for the Hyperbola methane-liquid oxygen rocket was conducted at Jiuquan Spaceport, located in the Gobi Desert.

The vertical take-off and landing test for the reusable rocket also described as a “hop test”, lasted a little under one minute but it was enough to test the rocket’s design and its ability to conduct vertical landing.

The test is part of the company’s plan to develop the Hyperbola-3 rocket with a reusable first stage. The company is targeting the first flight into the low Earth orbit using its Hyperbola-3 rocket in 2025. The 69-meter-long rocket will be able to lift 8.5 tons into the space. iSpace says it aims to conduct 25 Hyperbola-3 launches per year by 2030.

iSpace is skipping the previously planned smaller Hyperbola-2, the company stated at the 9th China Commercial Aerospace Forum in July this year.

In a statement released on its official social media account, iSpace announced the test “provided strong technical support for the development of the medium/large-scale reusable launch vehicle Hyperbola-3 we are currently working on”.

“The success marked a breakthrough for China’s commercial space sector, it also sounded the charge for China’s space industry to catch up with the world’s most advanced levels in reusable rocket technologies,” it added.

China's i-Space Hyperbola-2 — *^{China’s iSpace completed the first full-scale test of its reusable space rocket. (Image Credit: Sinodefenceforum/via Twitter)}*

According to the statement, the rocket was launched from the spaceport platform at Jiuquan satellite launch center in northern China’s Gobi Desert. It reached a height of 178.4 meters before making a well-controlled descent and touchdown. It maintained a landing accuracy of 1.7 meters.

Based on the successful vertical landing test, the company predicts that China’s first reusable medium-lift rocket will be able to debut in 2025. iSpace plans to emulate the success of American company SpaceX and its Falcon 9 rocket, which is the first and currently the most successful reusable space rocket used for commercial purposes.

Success after consecutive failures

Beijing’s Interstellar Glory Space Limited, also known as iSpace, is one of the few private space technology companies that works closely with China’s Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. iSpace was established in 2016 and it has been working on the Hyperbola reusable rocket since 2019, which is set to become China’s first-ever reusable space rocket.

iSpace made history as the first privately funded Chinese company when it reached orbit in 2019 using a solid-fueled Hyperbola-1 rocket. The company however suffered three consecutive failures with the rocket, before a successful return to flight earlier this year.

China’s privately funded space companies

China opened up its space sector to private and commercial activity in 2014, largely due to the increasing demand and as a reaction to the explosion of commercial space in the U.S. and Europe. The central government has since implemented policies and published guidance to support the development of commercial space.

Apart from iSpace, Galactic Energy is another notable Chinese space company that recently performed a similar hop test with a jet engine-powered article. Galactic Energy is working on its own reusable rocket. Similarly, Deep Blue Aerospace completed a successful rocket launch in 2022.

Another competitor in China’s privately funded space companies, Space Pioneer, is planning to launch the Tianlong-3 rocket in the first half of 2024. The rocket will be comparable to Falcon 9 in launch abilities but lacks landing capabilities.