Chinese commercial spacecraft successfully flew into suborbital orbit

On January 12, Lihong-1 flew to a maximum altitude of about 120 km, gliding over the edge of space, experiencing microgravity before returning to the atmosphere. Thanks to the parachute system, the craft landed safely and the cargo compartment was successfully recovered at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The test marks the first time China has recovered a commercial spacecraft from an altitude of more than 100 km using a parachute.

According to CAS Space, the test demonstrated reentry deceleration, completed verification of the recoverable cargo compartment, and demonstrated precision landing control technology for the craft’s sub-stage. This result is expected to pave the way for space tourism to develop in the future.

CAS Space said that Lihong-1 has low launch costs and high flexibility, and can provide a microgravity testing environment of more than 300 seconds for samples or equipment inside. Microgravity creates unique conditions that cannot be replicated on Earth, allowing materials to crystallize more evenly, biological cells to grow differently, and additive manufacturing to be free of gravity-induced defects.

In the test on January 12, the ship carried Chinese rose seeds and some scientific equipment. According to Shi Xiaoning, chief designer and leader of the Lihong-1 project, the seeds spent 300 seconds in space and were exposed to cosmic radiation, which can cause genetic mutations. After the specimens return to Earth, scientists will grow them to develop new, high-quality rose varieties and build a cosmic rose gene source bank.

Lihong-1 was developed to be reused many times. According to Wang Yingcheng, the project’s deputy designer, the team is conducting extensive testing to add crew life support systems and high-reliability escape technology on board. This will help China improve its capacity to conduct low-cost suborbital scientific experiments and commercial space tourism.