HELSINKI — Launch startup iSpace has successfully launched and landed a test article, a month after a primary hop test, as Chinese reusable rocket efforts intensify.
ISpace’s Hyperbola-2Y methane-liquid oxygen reusable verification stage lifted off from a pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center within the Gobi Desert at 4:07 a.m. Eastern (1107 UTC) Dec. 10.
The Hyperbola-2Y reached an altitude of 343.12 meters, translating 50 meters to a landing zone and touching down with a velocity of 1.1 meters per second and an accuracy of 0.295 meters. The complete flight lasted 63.15 seconds, based on an iSpace press statement.
The flight got here just over a month after a primary hop test Nov. 2. That test reached 178 meters and returned to its landing spot. iSpace says it’s going to attempt a test at sea next 12 months after completing ground tests.
The corporate said the flight obtained further flight data of and provided a basis for the corporate’s ongoing development of the Hyperbola-3 reusable launch vehicle provides key technology verification.
The corporate is targeting a primary flight of the 13.4-metric-ton to low Earth orbit (LEO) Hyperbola-3 rocket in 2025. An illustration of recovering and reusing a primary stage will follow in 2026. The 69-meter-long rocket will find a way to lift 8.5 tons to LEO in reusable mode. iSpace says it goals to conduct 25 Hyperbola-3 launches per 12 months by 2030.
The tests come years after Chinese industrial firms first announced plans to develop launchers with reusable first stages. Other firms, which began emerging after a Chinese policy shift in late 2014, are seemingly not far behind.
Fellow Beijing-based competitor Landspace can also be gearing up for its first hop test. That may even happen at Jiuquan and before the top of the 12 months.
The test is an element of the event of the newly-announced, two-stage methalox Zhuque-3. Landspace goals to fly the chrome steel rocket for the primary time in 2025.
The rocket might be 4.5 meters in diameter and have a complete length of 76.6 meters. It’ll have a payload capability to LEO might be 21,000 kilograms when expendable. It’ll carry as much as 18,300 kg when the primary stage is recovered downrange, or 12,500 kg when returning to the launch site.
Landspace revealed details of the Zhuque-3 and imminent hop test plans following the second successful flight of its methalox Zhuque-2 over the weekend.
Elsewhere in China, Galactic Energy performed a hop test with a jet engine-powered test article in August. The test is an element of development of the Pallas-1 kerosene-liquid oxygen reusable launcher. A primary, expendable flight is planned for the third quarter of 2024.
CAS Space, a spin-off from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has likewise conducted such tests. These were used to confirm algorithms for vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) rockets.
One other firm, Jiangsu-based Deep Blue Aerospace, is meanwhile planning the primary flight of its Nebula-1 kerolox rocket in 2024. The launch will happen from industrial launch facilities near the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan island.
The firm conducted a kilometer-level hop test in May 2022. Unlike iSpace’s recent hops, that test didn’t use a rocket engine intended for orbital flights.
Space Pioneer, the primary Chinese industrial startup to succeed in orbit with a liquid propellant rocket, is planning to launch its Tianlong-3 rocket in June 2024. The rocket might be comparable to Falcon 9 in launch capability and eventually have a reusable first stage.
China’s state-owned major space contractor CASC can also be aiming for reusable rockets. This features a new-generation human-rated launcher for lunar crewed missions and an evolving Long March 9 super heavy-lift launcher.
CASC can also be considering a reusable air-launched rocket. It is usually developing a two-stage spaceplane concept. It uses a reusable VTHL suborbital first stage and a reusable spacecraft second stage.
A 3rd flight of the reusable orbital spaceplane is predicted to launch via a Long March 2F Dec. 14, based on newly-released airspace closure notices.
Company | Rocket Name | Rocket Type | Key Features or Notes |
---|---|---|---|
iSpace | Hyperbola-3 | Methane-liquid oxygen reusable | Payload capability of 8,500 kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO); first flight planned for 2025. |
Landspace | Zhuque-3 | Methalox reusable | Payload capability as much as 21,000 kg to LEO; first flight planned for 2025. |
Galactic Energy | Pallas-1 | Kerosene-liquid oxygen reusable | Payload capability of 5,000 kg to LEO, or 3,000 kg to a 700 km sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). |
CAS Space | Kinetica 2 | Kerolox reusable | Payload capability of seven,800 kg to 500 km SSO. |
Deep Blue Aerospace | Nebula-1 | Kerolox reusable | Payload capability of 1,000 kg to 500 km SSO; first flight planned in late 2024. |
Space Pioneer | Tianlong-3 | Kerolox | Comparable to Falcon 9 in launch capability; plans for a reusable first stage. |
CASC | Various | Various | Working on reusable rockets including a new-generation human-rated launcher and Long March 9 super heavy-lift launcher. |