China’s first full-scale reusable rocket test fuels iSpace Hyperbola-3 ambitions
- Result is a ‘breakthrough’ for Chinese commercial space sector, the trailblazing company said
- According to iSpace, the successful test of its smaller Hyperbola-2 shows it is on track for a 2025 launch of its bigger rocket
The “hop test” at the Jiuquan satellite launch centre in northern China’s Gobi Desert on Thursday lasted a little under one minute but was enough to verify that the company is on track to fly its bigger Hyperbola-3 reusable rocket in 2025, iSpace said.
In a statement on its official WeChat account, iSpace said 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.”
The vertical take-off/vertical landing (VTVL) test achieved a landing accuracy of 1.7 metres (5ft 7in), with the first stage of the Hyperbola-2 reaching a height of 178.4 metres before making a well-controlled descent and touchdown, according to the statement.
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The flight verified the company’s overall scheme for developing a recoverable first stage and related technologies, including thrust system, landing navigation and guidance, as well as buffering and supporting facilities, iSpace said.
The company said earlier this year that it was skipping its Hyperbola-2 plans and going straight for the larger and more powerful Hyperbola-3 – at 69 metres in length – with eyes on a maiden flight in two years’ time.
The reinstated Hyperbola-2 is a smaller scale, two-stage rocket powered by methane and liquid oxygen. It has a total length of 28 metres and a payload capacity of 1.9 tonnes to low Earth orbit.
The most powerful member of the Hyperbola-3 family, which includes three models, has a similar configuration to US company SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.
The Hyperbola-3B has a centre core and two side boosters and will be able to send 8.5 tonnes into low Earth orbit in reusable mode, according to iSpace.
The company, which made history in 2019 with Hyperbola-1 – China’s first privately developed rocket to reach orbit – is one of several Chinese companies working on reusable rockets.
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Competitors Galactic Energy and CAS Space have used scaled-down test articles to verify the technologies and algorithms for navigation, guidance and control in their rockets’ vertical recovery phase.
So far, only SpaceX has developed a rocket capable of a vertical soft landing and multiple reuse. The Falcon 9’s missions have included sending Starlink satellites into orbit and delivering astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station.
China’s space authorities have said that the workhorse Long March rockets remain competitive, but new technologies – including reusable rockets – are under development to reduce future costs.
Chinese scientists have developed complex, smart rocket engines that have helped to put a rover on Mars and retrieve samples from the moon but testing of these technologies on reusable vehicles has so far been confined to scaled-down prototypes.
