Yueqian-1

Overview

Two-stage, methane-liquid oxygen reusable rocket whose first stage is recovered by a ground 'chopstick' tower-catch system rather than landing legs - China's first such design, modeled on SpaceX's Mechazilla. Roughly 70 m tall and 4.2 m in diameter with a nine-engine first stage. The company also publishes a Flint-1 (Huoshi-1) flight computer and the recovery tower as supporting hardware on its product list.

Academicians have signed off the first-flight scheme and the vehicle is in first-flight engineering. Official page still lists a 2027 debut. Tower-catch recovery is being validated on a verification platform; the latest public airframe test is the August 19, 2026 second-stage frame and tank-rear-bottom static-load test. Final assembly and integrated testing remain planned for the second half of 2026.

Key Specs

Payload to LEO

18,000 kg expended / 12,000 kg reused

Height

70 m

Diameter

4.2 m

Liftoff Mass

554 t

First-Stage Engines

9 × ~80 t class (~720 t total)

Propellant

Methane / liquid oxygen

Reusable

Yes (first stage; up to 20 flights, tower-catch)