Overview
- Yushi Space said it closed a 500 million yuan Series A round, lifting total funding to 1 billion yuan, to pay for full-rocket assembly tests, a chopstick-style recovery trial, and factory and team build-out.
- The company plans to build three AS-1 rockets in 2026 to support a first launch target in the first half of 2027 and a commercial rollout in the second half, which remains a stated goal rather than a confirmed schedule.
- Four 2026 milestones are on the calendar: a full-scale catch-arm ground integration test, first-stage assembly and checkouts for the debut rocket, a first-stage static fire, and full-vehicle assembly and tests.
- AS-1 follows a stainless-steel body with liquid-oxygen methane engines and a tower-mounted catch-arm system designed to grab the booster instead of using landing legs, with listed specs of about 70 meters tall, 570 tons at liftoff, 4.2 meters in diameter, and up to 15.7 tons to low Earth orbit expendable or 10 tons reusable.
- Yushi Space cites China’s STAR Market listing rules that favor reusable medium or large rockets as support for its 4.2-meter methane route, though progress depends on passing 2026 tests and overcoming engineering and production risks.