Photos: In the age of shoebox satellites China’s rocket start-ups scale down

Apr 27, 2019 12:13 IST

During initial tests of their 8.1-metretall reusable rocket, Chinese engineers from LinkSpace, a start-up led by China’s youngest space entrepreneur, used a Kevlar tether to ensure its safe return. Just in case. But when the Beijing-based company’s prototype, called NewLine Baby, successfully took off and landed last week for the second time in two months, no tether was needed. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)

The 1.5-tonne rocket hovered 40 metres above the ground before descending back to its concrete launch pad after 30 seconds, to the relief of 26-year-old chief executive Hu Zhenyu and his engineers. LinkSpace, one of China’s 15-plus private rocket manufacturers, sees these short hops as the first steps towards a new business model: sending tiny, inexpensive satellites into orbit at affordable prices. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)

Engineers test Satellite TY3-12, which weighs 10 kilograms, at a lab of Spacety in Changsha, Hunan province. Demand for nanosatellites - which weigh less than 10 kilogrammes and are in some cases as small as a shoebox - is expected to explode in the next few years. And China’s rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles than their home country. (Aly song / REUTERS)

A man wears VR goggles at an exhibition to mark China's Space Day 2019. A handful of US small-rocket companies are developing launchers ahead of the expected boom. One of the biggest, Rocket Lab, has already put 25 satellites in orbit. No private company in China has yet. Since October, two - LandSpace and OneSpace - have tried but failed, illustrating the difficulties space start-ups face. (Aly Song / REUTERS)

A worktable stands at LinkSpace's development site in Longkou. The Chinese companies are approaching inexpensive launches in different ways. Some, like OneSpace, are designing cheap, disposable boosters. LinkSpace’s Hu aspires to build reusable rockets that return to Earth after delivering their payload, much like the Falcon 9 rockets of Elon Musk’s SpaceX. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)

LinkSpace engineers during preparations for a launch. “If you’re a small company and you can only build a very, very small rocket because that’s all you have money for, then your profit margins are going to be narrower,” said Macro Caceres, analyst at US aerospace consultancy Teal Group. “But if you can take that small rocket and make it reusable... then with more volume, your profit increases,” Caceres added. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)

$People carry a table, used as the launch control console for a LinkSpace test launch. The company hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters. That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)$

People carry a table, used as the launch control console for a LinkSpace test launch. The company hopes to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.48 million) per launch, Hu told Reuters. That is a fraction of the $25 million to $30 million needed for a launch on a Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems Pegasus, a commonly used small rocket. The Pegasus is launched from a high-flying aircraft and is not reusable. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)

LinkSpace’s co-founder and CEO Hu Zhenyu (C), investors and officials visit the control console. After a surge in fresh funding in 2018, firms like LinkSpace are pushing out prototypes, planning tests and even proposing operational launches this year. At least 35 private Chinese companies are working to produce satellites. China’s state defence contractors are also trying to get into the market. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)

A retired rocket at LinkSpace’s development site. Equity investment in China’s space start-ups reached 3.57 billion yuan ($533 million), accounting for about 18% of global space start-up investments in 2018, a historic high. But like space-launch startups elsewhere, the immediate challenge for Chinese ones is safety and reliability. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)

The landing site is pictured after a test launch of LinkSpace's reusable rocket RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby. Proven talent to develop such hardware can be found in China’s state research institutes or the military, the government directly supports private firms, but it’s still a high-risk business --one unsuccessful launch can end a company. (Jason Lee / REUTERS)

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In the near term, China envisions massive constellations of commercial satellites that can offer services ranging from high-speed internet for aircraft to tracking coal shipments. Universities conducting experiments and companies looking to offer remote-sensing and communication services are among the potential domestic customers for nanosatellites - which weigh less than 10 kilogrammes and are in some cases as small as a shoebox. And China's rocket entrepreneurs reckon there is no better place to develop inexpensive launch vehicles for the boom than their home country.