Chinese launch startup secures early funding for fully reusable rocket plan

HELSINKI — One of China’s latest commercial launch companies has secured early funding as it aims to develop a launcher featuring first and second stage reuse.

Nayuta Space secured “tens of millions of yuan” in pre-A round funding Jan. 22, the company announced via a statement two days later (10 million yuan = $1.38 million). The round was exclusively funded by “Quanxin Investment.” 

The company said the financing will be used to improve the team. The company previously announced a similar level of funding in January 2024, that time for development of its rockets. 

Nayuta Space is developing a series of stainless steel rockets named Black Bird, referring to a creature from Chinese mythology rather than the common blackbird. The Xuanniao-1 (Black Bird-1) will use nine Canglong-1 methane-liquid oxygen engines developed by Beijing Aerospace Propulsion Technology Co. Ltd., a commercial rocket engine maker founded in 2018.

The company aims, eventually, to achieve reusability of both stages. The first stage will, unlike the Falcon 9 for instance, not use a reentry burn, instead relying on “aerodynamic recovery,” using the atmosphere and positioning of the stage to do most of the deceleration. This is to save fuel otherwise used for the reentry burn, which on the Falcon 9 uses three Merlin engines for 20-30 seconds, depending on mission and landing specifics. 

Nayuta Space also aims for a Starship chopstick-style catch of the first stage, called an “eagle grab,” thus saving mass through not needing landing legs. The company claims to be the first commercial company in China to develop aerodynamic recovery technology. Second stage recovery is a more distant goal. Another new Chinese launch company, Cosmoleap, is planning chopstick recoveries for its Leap rocket.

The Jan. 24 press statement included a photo of a first stage fuel tank for the Black Bird-1.

Nayuta Space stated in January 2024 that it aimed for launch of a reusable suborbital rocket in 2025 and a first orbital flight of a Black Bird-1 in 2026. The recent funding announcement did not provide information on its targets and timelines. Slides of the company’s plans from 2023 indicate the launcher will be capable of carrying 10 tons to low Earth orbit when reused.

The company’s CEO Li Rui told Chinese language tech website 36Kr in 2024 that China’s plans for megaconstellations requires the country to greatly increase its launch capacity. Nayuta Space aims to help increase the country’s launch capacity with lower costs and rapid reusability. 

China currently has no active reusable launch vehicles, but both state-owned enterprises and commercial companies are engaged in developing reusable rockets. Some of these launchers could debut this year, either in expendable or reusable modes. The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) conducted a high-altitude launch and landing test for the Long March 12A earlier in January, with the results not released to the public.

The country is committed to launching two 10,000-plus-satellite communications megaconstellations known as Guowang and Thousand Sails. These have so far relied on expendable Long March rockets for their handful of launches.

Nayuta Space and Cosmoleap are examples of newer Chinese launch firms following the newest trends in global spaceflight. The first commercial Chinese companies to emerge since a 2014 central government policy shift, such as Landspace, Expace and iSpace, first began developing small, solid propellant rockets. 

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