China prepares offshore test base for reusable liquid rocket launches

by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 26, 2026

China is preparing to bring into operation its first offshore platform purpose built for testing, launching and recovering reusable liquid propellant rockets, with the goal of lowering access costs to orbit and expanding commercial launch capacity.

The new facility is located at the Oriental Aerospace Port in Haiyang in east China s Shandong province, currently the country s only dedicated commercial maritime launch base.

Construction is in its final phase on an artificial island about 3 kilometers off the Shandong coast, where more than 150 workers are installing structural elements, hoisting equipment and integrating systems to meet an early February target for trial operations.

Trial runs are expected to begin around February 5, ahead of a planned first maritime launch and recovery attempt of a commercial liquid fueled rocket timed near the Chinese New Year holiday, according to a recent broadcast report.

At the center of the test complex is a launch stand fitted with a hydraulic erector system designed to handle vehicles with liftoff masses of hundreds of tonnes.

Four large hydraulic cylinders mounted in a deep pit will raise rockets from a horizontal transport position to vertical on the pad, streamlining ground handling for frequent launch campaigns.

Adjacent to the stand is a 17 meter deep flame trench built to route exhaust plumes with temperatures above 3,000 degrees Celsius away from the pad during ignition and early ascent.

A water deluge system surrounding the trench is engineered to cool exhaust, cut acoustic loads and shield launch structures and payloads from thermal and acoustic stress during engine firing.

The Haiyang Oriental Aerospace Port has already served as the site for 22 successful sea launches that placed 137 satellites into orbit, establishing operational experience in offshore missions.

All of those flights used solid fuel rockets, which offer mobility and quick response but are constrained by expendable architectures and relatively limited payload capacity compared with large liquid systems.

The new platform is tailored to liquid propellant launchers that can deliver heavier payloads and are being developed for recovery and reuse, a capability seen as central to lowering cost per kilogram and supporting large scale deployment of satellite constellations.

The test island is embedded in a broader launch support zone with storage and handling infrastructure for liquid oxygen, liquid nitrogen, kerosene and methane.

These installations will support propellant loading, tank pressurization and pipeline purging for upcoming generations of liquid rockets designed for repeated use.

The offshore platform is described as a key node in Shandong s growing aerospace industrial chain, which links launch services, rocket manufacturing and satellite application activities across cities including Yantai, Jinan and Qingdao.

At the national level, authorities published a three year action plan covering 2025 to 2027 in November 2025 to encourage high quality and safe growth of the commercial space sector and integrate it more tightly into broader space development strategies.

According to the China National Space Administration, the commercial segment of China s space industry continued to expand in 2025, completing 50 launches during the year.

Those missions represented 54 percent of the country s total launch count for 2025, with 25 flights carried out by commercial launch vehicles.

In all, 311 commercial satellites reached orbit on Chinese rockets in 2025, accounting for 84 percent of the nation s spacecraft liftoffs for the year.