Chinese private rocket manufacturer Sepoch has taken a major step forward in its ambitions for reusable spaceflight with the successful vertical liftoff and splashdown landing of its Yuanxingzhe-1 (YXZ-1) verification rocket, potentially paving the way for an orbital launch later this year.
Sepoch's Hiker-1 (YXZ-1) verification rocket hovers over the sea before splashdow.. Credit: Sepoch
The test was conducted at 4:40 p.m. Eastern (2040 UTC) on May 28 from an elevated steel platform at the Haiyang Spaceport in Shandong Province. The rocket, known in English as Hiker-1, launched vertically, soared to an altitude of approximately 2.5 kilometers, shut down its engines, and then performed a controlled descent. The engines reignited during freefall, guiding the rocket to a soft, propulsive splashdown in coastal waters near the launch site.
In an official statement, Sepoch—formally Beijing Jianyuan Technology Co., Ltd. and also known as Space Epoch—declared the test a “complete success.” The company detailed the eight flight phases demonstrated during the test: ignition and liftoff, full-thrust ascent, thrust modulation, engine shutdown, free descent, engine reignition, deceleration with hovering, and final splashdown.
The YXZ-1 test vehicle, constructed from thin-walled stainless steel, measured 26.8 meters in height with a 4.2-meter diameter and a takeoff mass of roughly 57 tons. The flight lasted 125 seconds and utilized Longyun methane-liquid oxygen engines developed by commercial engine provider Jiuzhou Yunjian (JZYJ).
Sepoch stated that the demonstration lays crucial groundwork for a full orbital flight of the Hiker-1 rocket, which is designed to be reusable and capable of delivering up to 10,000 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit.
The company’s milestone comes amid a growing push in China to develop SpaceX-style reusable rockets—technology that could dramatically reduce launch costs and improve turnaround times. Since SpaceX’s Falcon 9 first demonstrated routine booster landings, both state-owned and private Chinese firms have raced to replicate that success. The Chinese government has signaled strong support for commercial space efforts, fueling an ecosystem of startups aiming to bring reusability to the domestic market.
Sepoch has been expanding its strategic partnerships as part of that larger movement. Last year, the company joined forces with satellite operator Shifang Xinglian to build a constellation of medium Earth orbit satellites. It has also partnered with Alibaba’s e-commerce platform Taobao to explore high-speed rocket-based delivery systems—a concept once seen as science fiction but now receiving real investment.
This successful test marks a significant milestone, but Sepoch is not alone in China’s reusability race. In January, the state-owned Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) conducted a higher-altitude test for its upcoming Long March 12 series rocket, although no official results have been released. That test also employed JZYJ engines.
Hiker-1 is part of a new generation of Chinese reusable rockets expected to debut this year, joining competitors like Landspace’s stainless steel Zhuque-3, Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-3, iSpace’s Hyperbola-3, SAST’s Long March 12A, and Pallas-1 from Galactic Energy.
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