China's commercial rocket company completes 10-km VTVL 'jump test'

China's commercial rocket company, LandSpace, successfully conducted a 10-kilometer vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) "jump test" on Wednesday, paving the way forward for developing its ZQ-3 reusable rocket. The test took place at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

The flight lasted 200.7 seconds and achieved the country's first in-flight ignition during the descent stage.

During the test, the rocket's engine shut down for about 113 seconds after liftoff. The rocket then coasted to its highest point at 10.002 kilometers above the ground and glided for about 40 seconds. The engine reignited at an altitude of 4.64 kilometers. It ultimately achieved a soft landing at the recovery site, 3.2 kilometers from the launch pad.

"The test involves multiple engine starts and propellant management – which are the key technologies for us," Yuan Yu, the company's strategy director, told CGTN.

Powered by liquid oxygen and methane, the trial rocket has a high-strength stainless steel structure consistent with the company's reusable rocket Zhuque-3 in development. This single-stage test rocket is equipped with an improved 80-tonne-class liquid oxygen/methane engine named Tianque-12, and it has been verified in multiple orbital flights.

The company says the test on Wednesday paves the way for a reusable launch with large capacity, low cost and high frequency.

It follows the company's 100-meter VTVL test in January. 

Previous VTVL tests in China

The country's first-ever vertical takeoff and landing test of a reusable rocket was conducted on June 23 at the same launch center. Developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the rocket was powered by three variable-thrust liquid oxygen-methane engines. The rocket ascended to approximately 12 kilometers.

Other private aerospace companies, including Deep Blue Aerospace and Interstellar Glory, had all conducted VTVL flight tests for their reusable rockets in development. 

The first test of this kind was in 2019 when space startup Linkspace broke its own record by reaching a height of 300 meters with its RLV-T5 trial rocket. 

(Video provided by CGTN's Zheng Yibing. Peng Yuhan and Chen Hongyu also contributed to the story.)