PRESTON, United Kingdom — China is preparing for its first attempt to land a rocket stage after an orbital launch, following years of development and testing.
The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and commercial launch service provider Landspace both recently made progress with testing of their respective Long March 12A and Zhuque-3 rockets that make debut test flights possible before the end of the year.
Achieving reusable launch capabilities has long been a goal for China’s space ambitions. A plethora of launchers being developed could eventually both provide new and greater payload carrying capacity to orbit, with reusability also allowing an increase in launch cadence. This, in turn, would support strategic goals such as constructing proliferated low Earth orbit broadband constellations such as Guowang and Qianfan/Thousand Sails.
A successful vertical rocket landing would follow almost a decade after SpaceX demonstrated a first successful first stage rocket landing with its Falcon 9, indelibly altering the launch sector and visions for its future. The second group to achieve this may well come from China, though it may, as in the experience of SpaceX, require a number of attempts before success.
State-owned launch and landing
CASC’s Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) recently conducted a successful hot fire test of the second stage for its Long March 12A at sea launch facilities at Haiyang, Shandong province, according to a social media post by Shandong Offshore Commercial Aerospace Aug. 23, paving the way for an orbital test flight.
The test follows a first stage launch and powered vertical descent and splashdown test in January at Haiyang. While the ascent phase appeared to have proceeded well and a powered descent initiated, the official outcome has not been published. The second stage test, however, indicates that SAST is preparing for an orbital launch, possibly before the end of the year.
The Eastern maritime spaceport has recently established capabilities to support liquid propellant launch vehicles, with the HOS-1 mobile sea platform able to facilitate both launch and the return and landing of first stages. No official timeline for a first Long March 12A launch has yet been released, but public tracking of expected follow-on activities such as integration tests for the combined first and second stages may provide hints in the near future.
The Long March 12A is a 4.0-meter-diameter launch vehicle based on the kerosene-liquid oxygen Long March 12, which has flown twice to date and can loft 12,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit (LEO), and 6,000 kg to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The 12A is understood to use seven methane-liquid oxygen engines provided by commercial engine maker Jiuzhou Yunjian for the first stage test.
The rocket could make use of a new pad being constructed on Lianli island and could be ready by the end of the year. The development is part of broader plans to expand the Eastern maritime spaceport’s launch facilities. Up to eight pads are planned as the spaceport aims to support up to 100 launches a year by the end of the decade.
Landspace set for flight and landing test
Landspace, meanwhile, could conduct a first launch of its Zhuque-3 stainless steel methalox launcher as soon as next month. The company performed a nine-engine static fire test for the first stage in June.
Company founder Zhang Changwu said in an interview Aug. 25 that a flight from Jiuquan spaceport, northwest China, could take place in September or, failing that, November. Landspace has built its own pads at the Dongfeng commercial space test area at Jiuquan for its Zhuque-2 and Zhuque-3 rockets. A recovery pad is also being constructed downrange, meaning a fuel-intensive boost-back to the pad is not required to recover first stages.
The 4.5-meter-diameter Zhuque-3 will have mass at liftoff of about 660 tons and a payload capacity to LEO of 21,000 kg when expendable, or up to 18,300 kg when the first stage is recovered downrange.
Further commercial competitors
Another commercial firm, iSpace, earlier this month unveiled the country’s first automated drone recovery ship. It is designed to recover the first stage of its Hyperbola-3 rocket, but can be utilized by other launchers.
The drone ship, Interstellar Return, is now beginning commissioning on the Yangtze river and is due to enter service before the end of year. Hyperbola-3, a reusable kerolox rocket, will launch from the new Hainan commercial spaceport near the national spaceport at Wenchang on the island of Hainan. It could also fly before the end of the year.
A number of other commercial outfits are developing rockets with reusable first stages, with the timeline for test flights less clear, but also possible in the near future. These include Galactic Energy’s Pallas-1, Nebula-1 from Deep Blue Aerospace, Gravity-2 from Orienspace and Tianlong-3 from Space Pioneer. CASC also has further reusability plans.
CAS Space, a spinoff from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, recently conducted tests for launch equipment for the Kinetica-2 (Lijian-2) rocket at Jiuquan. That rocket is expected to launch in the near future and carry a prototype low-cost cargo spacecraft. The launcher itself is to be made reusable by 2027.
China has reached the threshold of attempting recovery of first stages following years of investment, policy support for commercial activities, a proliferation of startups, and low altitude and suborbital launch and landing tests. It will then need to safely secure the stages and validate inspection and preparation processes ahead of potential first stage reuse.
While achieving orbit will be the first goal for these rockets, and a safe recovery of a first stage being only a step towards high-cadence launches based on reuse, successfully landing a first stage would mark another major feat for China and its growing space ambitions.