Competitor for SpaceX rocket to be built in China

Thanks to reusable rocket nose cones, SpaceX can save up to $6 million on each launch. The company’s success has inspired many competitors to follow their lead.

Launching rockets is an expensive task, which is why the industry is not developing as quickly as we would like. SpaceX is hard at work developing reusable parts with the goal of saving money. Their Chinese competitors from LinkSpace are trying to replicate this success story.

LinkSpace has recently managed to lift their RLV-T5 rocket to a height of 300 meters before landing it back on the ground. Their next target is to increase the maximum altitude to 1 km. If all goes according to plan, these experiments will be continued with RLV-T6 - an improved version of the rocket which will be able to fly dozens of kilometers into the air. If this is also successful, the device will go up to an altitude of 100 km and complete one full orbit around our planet.

The main goal for LinkSpace is NewLine-1 - a rocket similar to Falcon 9 featuring a reusable first stage. The rocket launch is scheduled for 2021.