Overview
- Zhongke Aerospace’s Li Hong‑1 conducted its first suborbital test from Jiuquan on Jan. 12, reaching about 120 km and crossing the Kármán line.
- The returnable payload cabin descended under parachute and was recovered, marking the first 100‑km‑class parachute recovery for China’s commercial space sector.
- Sun Yat‑sen University’s SS‑2D onboard computer, built with fully domestic components, executed closed‑loop, online trajectory optimization from roughly 70 km during an unpowered return with grid‑fin control.
- The mission carried microgravity experiments, including a laser additive manufacturing payload and space‑exposed rose seeds, which were brought back for analysis.
- China’s launch cadence continued on Jan. 13 with a Long March 6 variant lofting Yaogan‑50‑01 and a Long March 8A placing 18 low‑Earth‑orbit internet satellites into their planned orbits.