CAS Space conducts first suborbital launch and capsule landing test

HELSINKI — Chinese commercial firm CAS Space launched its first Lihong-1 suborbital flight and recovery test mission, seeing a successful parachute descent of the capsule.

Lihong-1 lifted off at 3:00 a.m. Eastern (0800 UTC) Jan. 12 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China. The mission used a solid rocket with grid fins at the base, reaching an altitude of around 120 kilometers, before a successful, smooth landing of the capsule assisted by a parachute.

The test flight appears to mark significant progress for CAS Space’s grander ambitions. The test verified the reentry and deceleration processes for the capsule, as well as guidance and control during the booster’s descent phase, according to a CAS Space statement statement. The company said the successful test provided preliminary technical verification for technologies for a subsequent recoverable launcher and laid a solid technological foundation for realizing space manufacturing, space experiments, space medicine, and space tourism in the near future.

The test flight carried a microgravity laser additive manufacturing payload from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Mechanics, named LAM-MG-R1. The payload provided valuable experience for developing long-term on-orbit metal additive manufacturing and in-situ repair technologies in the space environment, according to CAS Space. Also aboard the flight were Chinese rose seed samples. The time spent at high altitude exposed the seeds to cosmic radiation with the aim of inducing gene mutations.

CAS Space says it envisions supporting multiple on-orbit manufacturing processes such as space pharmaceuticals and high-end semiconductor manufacturing in the future.

State-owned CASC’s Xi’an Aerospace Commercial Rocket Propulsion Technology company provided the solid propulsion system for the launch vehicle. CAS Space says the Lihong vehicle series and the subsequent on-orbit platforms currently under development will provide a “low-cost, go-to solution for the age of space manufacturing and space agriculture.” 

Towards suborbital tourism, orbital missions

Shi Xiaoning, chief designer and project commander of Lihong-1, told China Central Television (CCTV) that the team will upgrade the returnable payload capsule to an orbital-grade  spacecraft for space manufacturing and capable of staying in orbit for at least one year and allowing for a minimum of 10 reuses. There are also plans for human spaceflight.

Lihong-2 will be capable of carrying seven passengers above the Kármán line to experience up to four minutes of microgravity. CAS Space is developing reusable Liqing-1 engines for the recoverable stage, echoing Blue Origin’s reusable New Shepard system for suborbital tourism.

“We will upgrade the payload capsule to a larger size. Additionally, we will add a control system, a landing deceleration system, and reusability to enable crewed flight, long term orbital operations and precise reentry and return from orbit,” Shi said. 

CAS Space is not the only Chinese player in this emerging arena of activity. Commercial firm AZSpace, which is targeting future crewed orbital spaceflight capabilities, launched its DEAR-5 small cargo spacecraft in December. Another, younger spacecraft manufacturer, Interstellor, is also working on a spacecraft for suborbital tourism. CASC meanwhile has developed a recoverable Shijian microgravity research spacecraft, which had a debut flight in September 2024.