Asia’s rocket race heats up with Japan cutting costs and China sticking landings

Asia’s space race is heating up as Japan pushes to cut launch costs with a US-Japan joint test flight, while China perfects rocket landings to catch up with global leaders. Together, their private space companies are rapidly advancing reusable rocket technology, signaling a new era of competition and innovation in the region.

A Tokyo-based rocket startup said on Wednesday it will test-launch a prototype in the United States in December using an American engine, aiming to achieve the first U.S.-Japan joint commercial launch and address Japan's rocket shortage.

The global race for commercial launch vehicles has been driven by SpaceX, which on Tuesday conducted a ninth test for its fully-reusable Starship. U.S. rivals including Blue Origin and companies in China and Europe also have reusable launcher plans.

But Japan lacks cost-competitive launchers at home, which the government sees as a bottleneck in its efforts to double the domestic space industry's size to 8 trillion yen ($55.4 billion) by the early 2030s.

Innovative Space Carrier (ISC) said its ASCA 1.0 reusable launcher will conduct a 100-metre flight and landing test in Spaceport America in New Mexico, using a Hadley rocket engine from U.S.-manufacturer Ursa Major.

Starting at a low altitude, ISC will repeat "ninja training-like" tests towards building an orbital launch vehicle by 2028 to cater to emerging Japanese satellite makers, ISC chief executive Kojiro Hatada told a press conference.

"Japan's space industry needs its own space transportation services...but there's no need to do everything ourselves to achieve it," he said at partner JFE Engineering's factory near Tokyo.

Founded in 2022 by former government official Hatada, ISC has signed partnerships including with British 3D printer firm WAAM3D to fast-track launcher development.

ISC has secured Japanese government subsidies along with Space One and Toyota-backed Interstellar Technologies. It aims to lower the per-launch cost of a rocket capable of lifting a 100kg satellite to space to 500 million yen in the long run, Hatada said.

Ursa Major's Hadley engine has been used by U.S. company Stratolaunch for hypersonic vehicle tests and been granted a U.S. export control permit so that it can be equipped on an ISC rocket.

With ISC, "we look forward to continuing the partnership to further safe, cost-effective access to space," Ursa Major Chief Growth Officer Ben Nicholson said in an emailed statement.

Japan builds cheap, China lands clean

Meanwhile, in the waters off Shandong province, Chinese private rocket firm Space Epoch said on Thursday it had successfully run a flight recovery test, as China looks to catch up with the United States by developing its own reusable rocket that can rival SpaceX's Falcon 9.

As China and other space-faring nations develop tourism, infrastructure, and exploration, reusable rockets are indispensable to making their investments economically viable.

Beijing-based Space Epoch, or SEPOCH, said its Yuanxingzhe-1 verification rocket was launched at 4:40 a.m from China's first sea-based space launch centre, off the waters of Shandong.

The rocket soared upwards, its engines briefly shutting down after the peak of its trajectory, then reigniting as it began its vertical descent to enter the Yellow Sea in a circle of fire, a video posted on Space Epoch's WeChat account showed.

"The success of this flight recovery test is a major breakthrough in the development process of liquid reusable rockets," Space Epoch said.

The flight lasted 125 seconds, reaching about 2.5 km in height.

Space Epoch's ambition is highlighted by its demonstration of Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL), where a rocket takes off vertically and returns to Earth with a vertical landing that uses rocket engines to slow and control the descent.

Used by SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Starship, VTVL is crucial for retrieving and reusing rockets after launch, a growing focus worldwide to reduce costs.

While SpaceX routinely launches and recovers orbital-class rockets, no Chinese firm has yet matched this feat.

SpaceX's Falcon 9 first successful landing test was almost a decade ago, highlighting the gap firms like Space Epoch must bridge.

Space Epoch and peers like LandSpace aim for maiden flights of their reusable rockets later this year, though no dates have been revealed.

Last year LandSpace completed a 10-km VTVL test marking China's first in-flight engine reignition in descent, a technique Space Epoch appears to have also mastered with its latest launch.