(Bloomberg) — China plans to unlock Elon Musk on reusable launch vehicles — and close the technology gap with the United States.
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Beijing’s space launch and state-owned enterprises alike are developing a fleet of rockets that can be used dozens of times to lift satellites into low-Earth orbit.
One company trying to meet this challenge is LandSpace Technology Corp. The Zhuque-3 reusable rocket successfully completed a 10 km (6.2 mi) vertical takeoff and landing return test at the Zhuquan Satellite Launch Center on Wednesday. According to Chinese state media, it marked “significant progress in China’s commercial space industry” and is “a step towards achieving high capacity, low cost, high frequency and reusability in future space.” It was an important step.”
Another startup in the wings is Deep Blue, a closely held company that is testing a reusable rocket as soon as this week. A successful demonstration would bring it one step closer to providing the regular orbital deployment service offered by SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 rockets.
Huo Liang, CEO of Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Technology Co., said SpaceX is setting the pace for the rest of the space industry. “Their rockets are now flying regularly, and doing frequent commercial missions, while China has yet to master this technology.”
While China’s space program has matched NASA with multiple landings on the Moon and Mars, it has not kept pace with building rockets that can be used repeatedly. It is not alone. Many other Asian, European and Russian industries also rely on single-use launch vehicles, giving Musk’s SpaceX near monopoly in the global market.
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin LLC is close with its reusable new Shepard rocket, which will launch suborbital missions that carry passengers into space for minutes. His massive new Glenn rocket, designed to deliver satellites into orbit and fly at least 25 times, is expected to launch in November, four years behind schedule.
Since 2017, SpaceX has been reusing its rocket boosters, enabling it to deliver low-cost launches at rapid intervals and build a worldwide network of more than 6,000 satellites for its StarLink Internet service.
This gives it — and the United States — a huge cost advantage over single-use rockets, allowing for a consistent cadence of launches throughout the year.
Chinese companies say they are moving forward, with rockets like the Deep Blue Nebula-1 or similar prototypes in development. As the country dominates manufacturing in many other industries, mass production of rockets is another target for conquest. The goal is not just to match SpaceX, but to beat them at their own game.
Deep Blue plans to launch an orbiter next year as it works out the kinks in its rocket.
“The reusable Chinese rocket, when it happens, will be significantly less expensive than the Falcon 9,” said Carter Palmer, senior space systems analyst with Forecast International, Sandy Hook, Connecticut-based Space and The defense market research firm said.
Mountainside accident
It may be a while before that happens.
Even if Chinese rocket manufacturers succeed in initial tests, rapid deployment of reusable rockets will take time and several test cycles. And there are plenty of setbacks when companies tinker with their technology, such as a test in June, when Beijing Tianbing Technology Co., also known as Space Pioneer, climbed a mountain 1.5 kilometers from the launch pad. A rocket landed.
Europe’s Airbus SE ( AIR.PA )-Safran SA ( SAF.PA ) joint venture ArianeGroup, Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHVYF, 7011.T) and Lockheed Martin Corp., a joint venture between Boeing Co. ( BA ) and United States Launch Alliance. (LMT), is struggling to come up with its own recycling strategies. This will allow for more launches and help bring down the cost and time for each rocket.
Mitsubishi Heavy aims to eventually introduce a reusable launch vehicle but “we’re not at the stage of making anything concrete right now,” CG Izumisawa told Bloomberg Television on June 21.
For China, it is a matter of civic pride and national security. President Xi Jinping’s government wants a healthy commercial aerospace industry that can meet domestic needs and compete with the United States for customers — and influence — around the world.
“They will suggest that as an advantage on China’s side in this great power competition: ‘You don’t have to rely on the United States for these kinds of things,'” said Oriana Scaler Mastro. Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies.
Beijing is also weighing SpaceX’s increasingly ubiquitous Starlink, which has played a key role in conflict zones like Ukraine and has brought reliable internet service to much of the developing world. Peter Garritsen, senior fellow for defense studies at the Council on Foreign Policy, said China needs reusable rockets to build a network of low-Earth orbit satellites and other projects, from a lunar research base. Up to the solar power station.
“All of these plans require an enormous ability to move mass at scale in the solar system, and you can’t do that economically without a reusable launch,” he said. “Reusability is an absolute link in China’s space economic development plan.”
The Gobi Desert Test
LandSpace and Deep Blue are just a few Chinese companies eager to emulate Musk by building reusable rockets.
State-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) conducted similar tests earlier this year. One was held in the Gobi desert in June under the auspices of CASC’s Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology, which has a 2025 target for the first space flight with a reusable rocket.
Beijing-based LandSpace said commercial flights would begin in 2025. Other Chinese companies involved in reusable rockets include Galactic Energy Aerospace Technology Co. and Orion Space, which hopes to launch its reusable Gravity-2 rocket as early as 2026. Bloomberg in February.
LandSpace, Galactic Energy and Orienspace did not respond to requests for comment. Two state-owned enterprises also did not respond.
To be sure, China’s deep pockets are fueling the space industry. According to the CIA’s Global Factbook, the government spent $14 billion on its space program last year, most of which went to state-owned companies such as CASC and CASIC. Private Chinese space companies are subsidized through state-sponsored funds and the use of publicly funded launch facilities. In February, the government announced the opening of a reusable rocket technology center in Beijing to help with the launch.
“In terms of importance, look at other countries or adversaries. Where are they investing? They’re investing in space,” Tim Keating, director of strategy for Sierra Space, said Wednesday in Washington. The Chamber of Commerce said at its annual space conference. “Actually, I think China is ahead of us. You look at the investment and you know it’s not just being put in for somebody’s health. So I would say that’s a sign that we have a problem. .
Deep Blue announced in July that it had raised nearly 1 billion yuan ($141 million) from Chinese investors such as the government-backed high-tech zone in Wuxi, a city near Shanghai. Rival Orion Space raised about 600 million yuan in a funding round in January that included another local government fund. And Galactic Energy said last December that it had raised 1.1 billion yuan from local investors.
But while the Chinese government has been very supportive of the sector, it remains to be seen whether the country can create a national champion that can beat SpaceX at its own game, said Jianwei Li, managing partner of Xincheng Capital. A Chinese investment company in China said the company. Beijing is an investor in deep blue.
“Every company says they want to be China’s SpaceX, but let’s be realistic,” Li said. “Not everyone does it well.”
– Bruce Einhorn and Lulu Sheen
– With help from Bruce Einhorn and Lulu Sheen.
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