A milestone for the Far East as a space hub: China has unveiled its first unmanned recovery ship for reusable rockets. With this so-called drone ship, the People’s Republic becomes the second country after the USA to possess such technology.
The special ship “Xingji Guihang” was developed by the private space company iSpace based in Beijing.
The approximately 2,400 m² deck is designed to accommodate first-stage rocket boosters. Equipped with a dynamic positioning system, the vessel can operate autonomously and maneuver precisely even in difficult sea conditions.
It is initially planned for the recovery of the iSpace rocket “SQX-3”, scheduled for launch this year. In the future, the ship will also be used for sea recoveries of other medium to large reusable rockets.
The “Xingji Guihang” was built and launched in Yangzhou in the Chinese province of Jiangsu. After trial runs on the Yangtze River, the ship is scheduled to be transferred to the island province of Hainan in October. Once there, it will contribute to China’s efforts to reduce the cost of space travel by reusing components.
The concept follows the example of SpaceX, which successfully returned a Falcon 9 booster by ship for the first time in 2015. The US aerospace and telecommunications company was founded by Elon Musk in 2002 and now operates three drone ships. A company associated with the state-owned Chengdu Industrial Investment Group is also involved in the iSpace project.
