China's Kuaizhou Puts a Reusable Rocket First Flight in 2027
Kuaizhou Aerospace expects its Kuaizhou-6 rocket to reach orbit and have its first stage recovered in 2027, the company's chairman said, setting a date for a reusable vehicle that has not yet flown.
Zha Xiongquan gave the plan at the Commercial Space Forum in Wuhan, according to Science and Technology Daily, and put the rocket's payload capacity in the 20 tonne class. The reports do not say which orbit that figure refers to, and they do not describe how the first stage would be recovered.
And the engine roadmap behind it runs in steps. An 80 tonne class liquid oxygen and methane engine is to complete 15,000 seconds of cumulative test firing and be delivered for use in the same year, while IT Home, citing the company's own plan, adds that a design verification firing of a 140 tonne class methane engine is due at the same time.
Around the middle of the current five year plan period the rocket is to switch to that 140 tonne class engine and enter the market at scale. Zha called reusability the core of cutting launch costs, and said the company will run recoverable rocket trials next year.
A second vehicle sits alongside it. The Kuaizhou-12, a solid and liquid hybrid with 10 tonne class capacity, is scheduled for its first flight and market entry in 2027, with a launch cost target of no more than 20,000 yuan per kilogram, which is the number that decides whether a Chinese commercial launcher can compete for constellation work.
But everything above is a plan, and the gaps are worth stating plainly. No launch date is given, no engine test is described as completed for the Kuaizhou-6 itself, and the recovery method is not disclosed, so the 2027 target currently rests on a conference presentation rather than a test record.
The company is spending as though the dates are real. It is expanding its Wuhan headquarters for research, testing and final assembly, building a liquid propulsion centre in Beijing, extending test capacity to 300 tonne class engines, and preparing test and launch capability at Jiuquan and Wenchang, with test firings of 200 to 300 tonne class designs planned before the end of the decade.
Its existing smaller rockets carry the near term workload. Kuaizhou-1A and Kuaizhou-11 are to fly more than 50 missions over the next three years, and Zha described Kuaizhou as the world's first integrated satellite and rocket vehicle, a company characterisation that has not been independently checked.
So the number to watch is not the payload figure but the first static firing and then the first landing, because a reusable rocket is proven by the stage coming back rather than by the schedule, and every Chinese commercial launch firm is currently promising roughly the same year.
Kuaizhou Aerospace targets orbit and first stage recovery for Kuaizhou-6 in 2027
The rocket is described as a 20 tonne class vehicle, with no orbit specified
An 80 tonne class methane engine is due to finish 15,000 seconds of test firing that year
The Kuaizhou-12 hybrid is planned for a first flight in 2027 at no more than 20,000 yuan per kilogram
No first stage recovery method or completed Kuaizhou-6 engine test was disclosed
Source: Pandaily
