Beijing - A Chinese spaceflight firm has unveiled a reusable spacecraft aimed at the space tourism market, signalling its entry into a sector with significant commercial potential.
The spacecraft is China's first fully reusable vehicle built specifically for space tourism that can complete more than 30 flights while offering safe, reliable and cost-effective shuttle services, according to CAS Space, a Guangzhou-based commercial aerospace company.
Coded as the Lihong series, it is also designed to serve as a space laboratory for research on microgravity and radiation, advancing China's crewed lunar and deep-space goals, the aerospace company said.
Details of the space tourism project on the company's website highlight a single-stage sub-orbiter with an observation pod for seven passengers. Over the 10-minute flight, travelers will soar past the Karman line at 100 kilometers and enjoy up to three minutes of weightlessness, according to CAS Space.
The project also envisions a theme-park-style operation with ten vehicles in rotational service, each launching at 100-hour intervals.
The company aims to expand space-based resource utilization over the next five to ten years, fostering the development of the space economy into an industrial-scale sector, said Yang Yiqiang, founder and chairman of CAS Space, at Tuesday's launch event.
The company is preparing the Lijian-2 or Kinetica-2 rocket for its maiden flight in the fourth quarter of this year. Now fully integrated and ready for further testing, the liquid-propellant launcher will deliver the Qingzhou cargo vehicle to resupply China's space station with lighter, more agile payloads.
It is poised to become a leading rocket for supporting large-scale satellite constellation deployment and cost-effective cargo missions to China's space station.
The firm also introduced a heavy-lift version of the Lijian-2 rocket. With a core stage clustered with boosters, this reusable model can significantly reduce launch costs for satellite internet missions, with the capacity to support up to 60 launches annually.
CAS Space plans to use liquid oxygen (LOX) kerosene engines to power the first and second stages of its reusable rockets and the reusable tourism spacecraft.
A space conference held in east China's Anhui Province last week forecast that the deep-space economy -- centered on energy, internet, tourism and creative culture -- will top a trillion dollars globally by 2040.