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benchmarking against spacex in the united states, my country's commercial aerospace company has achieved ten-kilometer-level rocket recovery for the first time.

at 12:00 on september 11, 2024, the suzaku-3 vtvl-1 reusable vertical take-off and landing recovery test rocket independently developed by blue arrow space technology co., ltd. was successfully launched at the blue arrow liquid oxygen and methane rocket launch station at the jiuquan satellite launch center in my country, marking the first time that a commercial aerospace company has achieved a ten-kilometer-level vertical take-off and landing return flight test.

the success of this flight test mission marks a major breakthrough in china's commercial space industry in reusable launch vehicle technology. blue arrow aerospace said that in the next three years, it is expected to achieve large-capacity, low-cost, high-frequency, reusable space launches.

"this 10-kilometer recovery mission is of great significance and is more challenging than restoring the rocket. secondary ignition is very difficult," the investor told china business news. "i hope landspace can become the first company to break out of china's commercial space race."

achieved secondary ignition in mid-air for the first time

according to blue arrow aerospace, this mission is the first time in china to achieve secondary ignition of a vertical take-off and landing return rocket in the air, and has achieved technical verification such as the joint guidance and control of "grid rudder-cold air attitude control-engine" in a transonic high dynamic pressure environment, as well as the engineering application of real-time wind correction technology for high-altitude winds.

zhuque-3 is the next generation of reusable rocket of landspace. a reporter from china business news learned from relevant personnel of landspace that the next step for landspace will be to try to put the rocket into orbit, and the next step will be to realize the recovery of the rocket and go-around.

"at the beginning of this year, zhuque-3 has completed the transition from the planning stage to the prototype stage. it is planned to carry out its first flight in 2025 and achieve the recovery and reuse of the first stage in 2026," said blue arrow aerospace.

an investor of blue arrow aerospace told the first financial reporter that the company is expected to generate large-scale revenue this year, with the main revenue coming from low-orbit satellite launches.

this mission is an advanced verification of the key technologies for vertical takeoff and landing of large liquid oxygen and methane reusable rockets following the blue arrow aerospace's 100-meter-class flight test mission in january 2024. the mission was terminated due to a malfunction during a launch last month.

commercial spaceflight is a money-burning industry, and every failure means that huge investments have been wasted. "even if the company generates revenue, the expenditure on r&d and testing is greater, so the key is to rely on continuous capital investment," a person from blue arrow aerospace told the reporter from china business network.

reducing the cost of launching mega-constellations

a senior person in the commercial aerospace field told china business news: "this recovery is an important progress in my country's reusable rocket technology. reusable rockets mean that the cost of satellite launches will be greatly reduced and the launch frequency will increase in the future, which will directly promote the rapid development of the commercial aerospace industry, especially in the deployment of giant constellations."

the concept of a giant constellation was first proposed by the u.s. space exploration technologies corporation (spacex), a technology tycoon elon musk. spacex's "starlink" plan is a giant satellite constellation. at present, many commercial aerospace companies in my country are also deploying the chinese version of "starlink", but the launch capability and launch cost of rockets still have room for improvement.

the first-stage rocket of spacex's falcon 9 can already be recovered from the sea surface and can be refurbished for future launch missions. reusing rockets is a signature move of spacex, which helps reduce rocket launch costs.

lin baojun, chief designer of the beidou-3 satellite system, stressed that my country's aerospace technology has rapidly surpassed the world's leading level, but there is still a large gap in cost. he cited data that the current cost of launching a 1kg satellite in china is about $10,000. based on this calculation, the launch cost of a single low-orbit communication satellite is about $2 million, while the launch cost of the us starlink is much lower, so we still have a lot of room for improvement.

according to public information, the cost of spacex launching a single low-orbit satellite is only about $750,000. "when the number of satellite launches reaches a certain scale, it will continue to drive down costs and achieve rapid launch and networking. spacex is now generating economies of scale," lin baojun told the first financial reporter. he also said that my country's rocket carrying capacity needs to be further improved.

at present, many private rocket companies in my country are developing recyclable paths, but so far, none of them has actually achieved recycling.

benchmarking against spacex, this flight test mission of landspace is to verify the reusability of rockets. landspace said that by rechecking the status of the test rocket after its first flight, it verified the performance of the stainless steel rocket body structure, engine and onboard avionics equipment under repeated use conditions, and accumulated experience in the inspection and maintenance of reusable rockets, which is of great significance to improving the reliability and go-around efficiency of suzaku-3.

shen yan, founder and ceo of easymotion aerospace, told the first financial reporter: "to reduce the cost of satellite launches, we can refer to musk's ideas, that is, a minimalist design and as many rocket recovery as possible."

shen yan believes that it is not sustainable to ensure the success of every launch at a high cost, and tolerance for failure is more conducive to polishing products with greater economic benefits and market value. "spacex is not successful in every launch, and it is based on the experience gained from failures that it can ultimately achieve success." he said, "in the field of commercial aerospace, we need more patient capital."

favorable policies and capital empowerment

commercial spaceflight is becoming an important engine driving the global digitalization and intelligentization process. the competition among countries in spaceflight capabilities has expanded from the government level to the private spaceflight sector.

on september 10th, local time, spacex launched the first private "spacewalk" mission for humans, marking another major milestone for the commercial aerospace company. spacex has become an important supplier to nasa. so far, spacex has provided nasa with 9 manned spacecraft services.

my country is also actively promoting the development of commercial aerospace, and local governments have introduced favorable policies intensively. at the end of last year, shanghai issued the "shanghai action plan to promote the development of commercial aerospace and create a space information industry highland (2023-2025)" (hereinafter referred to as the "plan"), proposing that by 2025, a full coverage industrial chain from rockets, satellites, ground stations to terminals will be formed.

according to the plan, shanghai will develop three major products: a new generation of medium and large launch vehicles, low-cost and highly integrated satellites, and intelligent application terminals, and form a mass production capacity of 50 commercial rockets and 600 commercial satellites per year. with the goal of building "shanghai star" and "shanghai arrow", it will provide a chain service model for satellite development, launch, in-orbit delivery and management; promote the formation of independent construction capabilities such as ground stations, measurement and control centers, and application terminals; build a multi-structured industrial fund and improve relevant industrial support policies; introduce and cultivate 10 new key commercial aerospace enterprises, cultivate 5 hard-core enterprises that meet the conditions for listing on the science and technology innovation board, support a group of private "specialized, precise and new" advantaged enterprises, and realize a space information industry scale of over 200 billion yuan.

the global capital market is also increasingly interested in the commercial aerospace sector. with the growing global demand for satellite communications, commercial aerospace has become a hot area for investors. some cutting-edge technologies have not only attracted a lot of investment, but also driven the valuations of related companies to continue to rise.

wang yang, ceo of spacetime aerospace, a private aerospace company, said in an interview with china business news recently: "national policy support for the commercial aerospace sector is an important factor in promoting the development of the industry. the government's support policies and the relaxation of market access have created a favorable environment for the development of commercial aerospace companies. these factors work together to make the investment prospects of the commercial aerospace industry more optimistic."

he believes that spacex, a world-leading commercial aerospace company, can also provide inspiration for chinese commercial aerospace companies. taking the launch of low-orbit satellites as an example, wang yang said: "on the one hand, we should see the gap with others and admit that we are facing a certain lag. on the other hand, we should strive to improve our satellite manufacturing capabilities and rocket launch capabilities, and provide highly reliable and low-cost launches to meet the deployment of the entire orbital plane of the satellite constellation."