HELSINKI — Astronstone, one of China’s newest commercial launch startups, has raised early-stage funding for a stainless steel, reusable launch vehicle modeled on SpaceX’s Starship system.
Established in mid-2024, Astronstone announced May 29 it had secured more than 100 million yuan ($13.9 million) in part for the development of its AS-1 (Astronstone-1) stainless steel, methane-liquid oxygen reusable launch vehicle, with a “chopsticks” system for first stage recovery.
The round was led by Qiancheng Capital, with participation from Huacang Capital and existing investor Lingge Ventures increasing their investment.
The funds will be used for rocket product research and development and production test base construction, accelerating the implementation of recyclable stainless steel liquid launch vehicle technology, according to the company statement. The company says it is “fully aligning its technical approach with Elon Musk’s SpaceX.”
The AS-1 rocket features a diameter of 4.2 meters, a length of 70m and a takeoff mass of 570,000 kilograms. It can carry up to 15,700 kg to low Earth orbit in expendable mode, or 10,000 kg in reusable mode. Astronstone claims the AS-1 price per kg launched will be 10,000 yuan ($1,340) when reused, or 20,000 yuan ($2,680) when the first stage is expended. Astronstone also has future plans for a much larger, 8.0-meter-diameter AS-2 rocket.
The AS-1 rocket will be powered by a customized version of the 80-ton-thrust Longyun engine developed by commercial rocket engine maker Jiuzhou Yunjian (JZYJ). JZYJ also supplied Longyun engines to Sepoch, which this week conducted a vertical takeoff and splashdown test with its own stainless steel test article.
Astronstone says in the coming months it will focus on carrying out a second-stage rocket assembly test, a static fire test, and a full-scale chopstick prototype ground test.
The company’s CEO, Tang Wen, who has experience with China’s state-owned main space contractor, CASC, and the development of the Long March 5 and 7 rockets, identified three key challenges ahead for AS-1 recovery in a 2024 interview. These are landing precision, including controlling the rocket’s descent to align accurately with the recovery arms; synchronizing the rocket’s movement with the dynamic positioning of the recovery arms; and, in terms of structural design, engineering the arms to withstand repeated use and the stresses of catching descending rockets.
The company’s investors see Astronstone’s choice of large capacity, reusability and use of stainless steel as key.
Stainless steel offers better high-temperature resistance and strength-to-weight performance during atmospheric reentry compared to traditional aluminum alloys, making it more suitable for reusable rockets, despite the disadvantage of being heavier.
“The pain point in China’s commercial space industry lies in the persistently high costs of heavy-lift liquid rockets, and the massive demand from two megaconstellation projects lacks sufficient commercial rocket capacity,” Qiancheng Capital’s investment team said in a statement.
China has already begun launching satellites for the national Guowang and quasi-commercial Qianfan, or Thousand Sails, constellations, but still faces a launch bottleneck.
The company is not the only one in China to embrace chopstick recovery. Late last year Cosmoleap, another new entrant into the highly competitive and crowded realm of China’s commercial launch sector, secured a similar level of funding for its own launcher with a chopstick-style recovery system.
Astronstone, Sepoch are Cosmoleap are three of the newer Chinese commercial launch companies. A number of the more established commercial launch participants are working on reusable liquid propellant rockets with a number of debut flights targeted for this year.
