Chinese Rocket Completes Vertical Sea Recovery Test, Boosting Reusable Technology

Chinese Rocket Completes Vertical Sea Recovery Test, Boosting Reusable Technology

Space Epoch's YXZ-1 methalox-powered reusable rocket (test article) successfully demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies

Space Epoch's YXZ-1 methalox-powered reusable rocket (test article) successfully demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies

Space Epoch's YXZ-1 methalox-powered reusable rocket (test article) successfully demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies via a soft splashdown in Yellow Sea off the coast of Shandong province

Space Epoch's YXZ-1 reusable rocket (test article) recovery post-landing in the Yellow Sea off the coast from Haiyang spaceport, Shandong province

Space Epoch's YXZ-1 reusable rocket (test article) recovery post-landing in the Yellow Sea off the coast from Haiyang spaceport, Shandong province

Space Epoch's reusable methalox-powered Hiking-1 commercial rocket launching to Earth orbit in 2025

Space Epoch's reusable methalox-powered Hiking-1 commercial rocket launching to Earth orbit in 2025

Chinese rocket startup Sepoch ("Space Epoch"), officially Beijing Jianyuan Technology Co., Ltd., has successfully conducted its first sea recovery test of its stainless steel and reusable YXZ-1 rocket. China’s first reusable rocket using liquid oxygen-methane propulsion completed a 125-second flight, reaching a 2.5-km altitude. 

Reported flight cost: 27.6 million USD

Watch it reignite its core engine, hover and land vertically off the coast of Shandong province in eastern China demonstrating vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) technologies. Sepoch plans an orbital flight test later in 2025 with its Hiker-1 rocket. It is designed to be reusable and carry up to 10,000 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit, according to previous reports. 

The Yuanxingzhe-1 (YXZ-1) verification rocket lifted off from an elevated steel structure at the Haiyang spaceport at 4:40pm Eastern (2040 UTC) May 28, 2025. It performed a controlled, propulsive vertical descent and soft splashdown in waters off the coast of Haiyang.

Flight Details:

Diameter: 4.2 meters Height: 26.8m stainless steel body

Reusable metholox engine

57t Liftoff mass

Apogee 2.5km

125 second flight

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 Sepoch. 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).

Sepoch, and also referred to as Space Epoch, declared the test a “complete success” in a statement. 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.

Hiker-1 is among a number of reusable rockets being developed in China that could debut this year, either in expendable mode, or attempting first stage reusability from the start.

These include Landspace’s stainless steel Zhuque-3, SAST’s Long March 12A, Tianlong-3 from Space Pioneer, Hyperbola-3 from iSpace and Galactic Energy’s Pallas-1. 

Last year, Sepoch entered a strategic partnership with satellite operator Shifang Xinglian to build a constellation of medium Earth orbit satellites. It has also partnered with Taobao, Alibaba’s major e-commerce platform, to explore the feasibility of rocket-based express delivery.

This was not the first vertical takeoff and soft landing in China this year. In January, the state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) carried out a higher-altitude test for its planned reusable Long March 12 series rocket, again using engines from JZYJ, attempting to reach an altitude of around 75 km. 

Image Credit: Sepoch

Text Credit: Sepoch, SpaceNews

Release Date: May 29, 2025

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