HELSINKI \u2014 Chinese rocket maker Sepoch has carried out a first vertical liftoff and splashdown landing ahead of a potential orbital launch attempt later this year.<\/p>\n
The Yuanxingzhe-1 (YXZ-1) verification rocket lifted off from an elevated steel structure at the Haiyang spaceport, Shandong province, at 4:40 p.m. Eastern (2040 UTC) May 28.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Video of the test shows the test article soaring vertically from a launch pad, before shutting down its engines at around 2.5 kilometers in altitude. The engines relight during free descent during free descent and the rocket performs a controlled, propulsive vertical descent and soft splashdown in waters off the coast of Haiyang.<\/p>\n
Sepoch, officially Beijing Jianyuan Technology Co., Ltd., and also referred to as Space Epoch, declared the test a \u201ccomplete success\u201d in a statement<\/a>. It noted eight phases of flight: ignition and liftoff, full-thrust ascent, variable thrust adjustment, engine shutdown, free descent, engine reignition, deceleration and hovering, and soft splashdown.<\/p>\n The test article used thin-walled stainless steel and had a diameter of 4.2 meters, a total height of 26.8 meters and a takeoff mass of about 57 tons, according to Space Epoch. The test lasted 125 seconds and reached around 2.5 kilometers in altitude. The test article used Longyun methane-liquid oxygen engines provided by commercial firm Jiuzhou Yunjian (JZYJ).<\/p>\n Sepoch says the test has laid a solid foundation for the first full flight of the YXZ-1, also known as Hiker-1 in English, later this year.<\/p>\n Hiker-1 is designed to be reusable and carry up to 10,000 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit, according to previous reports.<\/p>\n The company last year entered a strategic partnership<\/a> with satellite operator Shifang Xinglian to build a constellation of medium Earth orbit satellites. It has also partnered with Taobao, Alibaba\u2019s major e-commerce platform, to explore the feasibility of rocket-based express delivery.<\/p>\n It is not the first vertical takeoff and soft splashdown attempt in China this year. In January the state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) carried out a higher-altitude test<\/a> for its planned reusable Long March 12 series rocket, again using engines from JZYJ, attempting to reach an altitude of around 75 km.\u00a0<\/p>\n While unofficial footage was posted online, showing an apparently nominal ascent phase, the company has not provided any official statements on the outcome of the test.<\/p>\n