Hyperbola-3

Move beyond reaching orbit to recovering and reflying the Hyperbola-3 first stage at sea - the core of iSpace's low-cost launch strategy - having completed full-profile ground verification of the landing system and June 2026 offshore sea trials of the Qinglan recovery drone ship. The debut mission itself is planned as the first sea-recovery attempt; a successful reflown booster would follow in 2027 if the late-2026 landing works.

Put the record 5.037 billion yuan (~$729.6M) Series D++ closed in February 2026, plus the first tranche of a new Series E round (nearly 1 billion yuan, ~$140M, out of a round reported at ~7 billion yuan / ~$980M total) closed in August 2026, to work - completing the 3.3B yuan Chengdu production base (Chengdu reporting in April 2026 still targeted completion by end of 2026, equipment debugging late 2026, and official production in 2027, sized for 20 rockets/year), expanding Hyperbola-3 final assembly and integrated-test capacity, building out Focus-2 methalox engine and sea-recovery infrastructure, raising Hyperbola-1's reliability, and starting early R&D on the heavy-lift Hyperbola-9 and its 300-tonne-class Focus-3 engine.

Fly the reusable Hyperbola-3 for the first time from Commercial LC-2 at Wenchang, having qualified its engines and stages, completed Qinglan drone-ship recovery sea trials in June 2026, passed the payload fairing's final static-load test on August 14, 2026, and completed ultimate-load static tests of the first-stage methane tank and second-stage common-bulkhead tank as of September 18, 2026, attempting a sea-based first-stage recovery on the debut - still targeted for late 2026 (year-end / Q4). Company officials have not issued a locked December calendar date; public launch lists as of September 20, 2026 still show NET 2026 / a placeholder December 31 date, with no slip announced.

Progress toward an IPO on Shanghai's STAR Market, reportedly targeted for the second half of 2027 once Hyperbola-3 has completed its debut orbital flight and sea-recovery attempt - a milestone China's fifth listing standard requires for a reusable medium/large launch vehicle.