Translation. Region: Russian Federal
Source: People’s Republic of China in Russian – People’s Republic of China in Russian –
Source: People’s Republic of China – State Council News
JINAN, May 29 (Xinhua) — A Chinese rocket startup has successfully conducted its first sea test of a proof-of-concept rocket, which made a vertical landing in waters off the coast of east China’s Shandong Province.
On Thursday morning, the 26.8-metre-tall stainless steel rocket, which had a diameter of 4.2 metres and weighed 57 tonnes at liftoff, completed a 125-second flight, reaching an altitude of about 2.5 kilometres during its climb under full thrust.
A video released by Beijing-based Space Epoch shows the XZY-1 rocket firing its engine as it descends, hovering over the sea surface before landing softly in a vertical position.
Post-flight data analysis confirmed that the rocket had performed normally throughout the test, and experts declared the landing a success.
It is one of the latest attempts by Chinese aerospace companies to develop reusable rockets. In 2024, at least two Chinese-made rockets, namely the Zhuque-3 and one developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, completed 10-kilometer vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) tests in northwest China.
In January of the same year, a GDP test was conducted on the experimental model of the reusable launch vehicle /LV/ “Kuaizhou” /”Fast Shuttle”/, developed by Expace Technology.
In addition, tests of the SQX-2Y reusable launch vehicle developed by i-Space were conducted in 2023. -0-