China's first reusable liquid rocket test offshore platform set for operation

BEIJING -- China is preparing to operationalize its first offshore platform designed for launching and recovering reusable liquid-propellant rockets, a strategic move aimed at significantly reducing space access costs and advancing its commercial space capabilities.

Located at the Oriental Aerospace Port in Haiyang in East China's Shandong province, the country's sole commercial maritime launch base, this new test facility is in its final construction phase.

It is scheduled to be ready for trial operation starting about Feb 5, ahead of the country's first maritime launch and recovery attempt of a commercial liquid rocket, which is expected to take place around the Chinese New Year holiday, according to a video report by China Media Group on Thursday.

This move aligns with China's strategy to further develop its space industry and aims to address a core challenge in commercial spaceflight -- achieving affordable, frequent access to orbit through rocket reusability, the report noted.

On a man-made island roughly 3 kilometers off the coast of Shandong, construction is underway at a rapid pace. More than 150 workers can be seen welding, hoisting equipment and coordinating machinery under a winter sky.

The centerpiece of this test facility is a launch stand equipped with a hydraulic erector system. Four large hydraulic cylinders, installed in a deep pit, will lift rockets weighing hundreds of tonnes from a horizontal to a vertical position.

Nearby, a 17-meter-deep flame trench stands ready to channel exhaust plumes reaching over 3,000 degrees Celsius during ignition, while a surrounding water deluge system will cool the plume, suppress acoustic energy and protect launch infrastructure.

The Haiyang Oriental Aerospace Port has a strong track record, having so far successfully conducted 22 sea launches that have carried 137 satellites into orbit.

However, these missions all utilized solid-fuel rockets, valued for their mobility and flexibility but limited by lower payload capacity and expendability.

The new platform targets liquid rockets that offer greater lift capability and, critically, reusability, which is a fundamental economic driver for scalable satellite constellation deployment and a central development direction for China's commercial launch industry, the report said.

The platform is part of a comprehensively planned zone featuring supporting facilities such as storage areas for liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, kerosene and methane, which will handle propellant loading, pressurization and pipeline purging for next-generation liquid rocket operations.

It forms a key node in Shandong's expanding aerospace ecosystem, which now spans launch services, rocket manufacturing and satellite applications across cities in this province, including Yantai, Jinan and Qingdao.

China unveiled a three-year (2025-2027) action plan in November 2025 to boost the high-quality and safe development of its commercial space sector, aiming to integrate it into the national space strategy and foster new-quality productive forces in this field.

China's commercial space sector, notably, sustained rapid growth in 2025, completing 50 launches last year, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said on Tuesday.

These launches accounted for 54 percent of the country's total number of space missions in 2025, and 25 were carried out by commercial launch vehicles.

A total of 311 commercial satellites were placed into orbit by China last year, representing 84 percent of all Chinese satellites launched into orbit in 2025, the CNSA revealed.