Beijing Zhongke Aerospace Exploration Technology Co., Ltd. is the first domestic aerospace enterprise with mixed ownership, and it is also the target enterprise that Oriental Aerospace Port focuses on introducing. Relying on the scientific research strength and resource advantages of the Institute of Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Aerospace Flight Technology Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Aerospace Science and Technology has been committed to the research and development and integration of space technology and aerospace vehicles as a platform for the transformation of major national scientific research projects, as well as the transformation and provision of technological achievements. Aerospace launch service. The Lijian-1 rocket project also adds a brand-new name card to the Oriental Space Port, which will surely promote the construction of the Oriental Space Port to take a solid step forward.
On January 12th, the Lihong- 1 Y1 spacecraft, carrying a recoverable microgravity metal additive manufacturing scientific experiment payload independently developed by the Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, successfully completed a metal additive manufacturing experiment in space. Following the mission’s complete success, the payload was safely recovered and a delivery ceremony was held at the Institute of Mechanics on January 22nd.
The return capsule of the Lihong-1 Y1 suborbital spacecraft was opened today, and its microgravity laser additive manufacturing (space metal 3D printing) payload was delivered.
During its maiden flight, the Lihong-1 spacecraft climbed to an altitude of approximately 120 kilometers …
Lihong-1 Completes First Suborbital Flight Test
Mission a Complete Success, Recoverable Payload Module Lands Smoothly… At 16:00 on January 12, 2026, the Lihong-1 Y1 spacecraft from CAS Space Technology successfully completed its suborbital flight test mission at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. The recoverable payload module successfully landed and was recovered via parachute. The maiden flight carried a microgravity laser additive manufacturing recoverable scientific experimental payload and aerospace radiation-induced mutation rose seeds. This flight test successfully verified the re-entry, atmospheric return, deceleration, and recovery of the recoverable payload module. Simultaneously, it verified the precise landing point control technology for the spacecraft’s sub-stage return, achieving a landing point accuracy of hundreds of meters at a distance of 100 kilometers. This marks the transition of space manufacturing from the “concept verification” stage to the “engineering verification” stage, laying a solid technical foundation for the near future realization of space manufacturing, space experiments, space medicine, and space tourism.
The Lihong-1 (PH-1) maiden flight test spacecraft reached an altitude of approximately 120 kilometers, crossing the Kármán line into space. This spacecraft boasts a series of outstanding advantages, including low launch cost, high flexibility, and support for experimental payload recovery. Primarily designed for applications such as microgravity science experiments and near-space in-situ exploration, it provides scientific experimental payloads with a highly stable, reliable, and versatile experimental environment for over 300 seconds.
This flight test mission primarily verified the high-reliability parachute aerodynamic deceleration technology for the reentry payload capsule and the precise landing point control technology for the spacecraft’s sub-stage return. Specific achievements are as follows:
1. The Lihong-1 reentry payload capsule employed parachute recovery technology. The entire return process involved atmospheric reentry, followed by atmospheric deceleration to subsonic speeds, and then further deceleration using parachutes to ensure the payload capsule’s landing speed met mission requirements. To achieve the high-reliability parachute aerodynamic deceleration technology for the reentry payload capsule, breakthroughs were achieved in high-precision recovery trajectory prediction technology for the parachute deceleration system, refined aerodynamic and dynamic integrated analysis technology for the wide-speed-range parachute system, and reliability modeling and comprehensive performance evaluation technology for the parachute deceleration system. This technology can provide preliminary technical verification for the company’s subsequent Lihong-2 reusable spacecraft’s cluster parachute recovery technology and accumulate valuable experimental data for the reliable deceleration and recovery of manned spacecraft for space tourism.
2. The Lihong-1 flight carried out verification of the precise landing point control technology for the return of the spacecraft’s sub-stage. This technology is one of the core key technologies for achieving vertical return and reusability of rocket sub-stages. Under complex reentry force, thermal environment constraints, and high-dimensional landing terminal constraints, an online real-time trajectory guidance optimization algorithm was used to achieve precise landing point control of the spacecraft’s sub-stage return. The verification results, including the high-precision multi-model real-time trajectory optimization method for strongly nonlinear landing problems, the robust autonomous optimal guidance method for complex disturbances and deviations, and the soft-hard coupling design of the autonomous optimal guidance algorithm and a new high-computing-power onboard guidance computer, can be directly applied to orbital rockets, thus enabling breakthroughs in reusable launch vehicle technology at a lower cost .
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