New Funding Raised for Reusable Rocket Makers iSpace and Space Epoch
Both enterprises are yet to fly their reusable launch vehicles, but investors are confident with current progress.
On February 12th, iSpace announced it had concluded its D++ funding round, raising 5.037 billion Yuan (729.6 million United States Dollars, as of February 13th). This funding round was led by Tongchuang Weiye (同创伟业) and Jingming Capital (京铭资本) with eighteen private investors and six provincial or municipal capital funds participating.
With the new funding, iSpace says they will accelerate plans with their reusable launch vehicle, Hyperbola-3, while expanding production and testing capacities for relevant systems. It was also noted that facilities in Beijing (北京), Shaanxi (陕西), Hainan (海南), Sichuan (四川), and Guangdong (广东) would be improved.
Around a week earlier, shared February 6th, iSpace and Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Co Ltd (海南国际商业航天发射有限公司) performed a rehearsal of transferring the Hyperbola-3 launch vehicle to Commercial Launch Pad 2, at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site. That rehearsal saw the vehicle’s pathfinder placed onto its transporter-erector and driven to the launch pad. Once there, it was moved into the launch position, with the transporter-erector swinging away like it would on a launch day.
While the transporter-erector was at the launch pad with Hyperbola-3’s pathfinder, launch site teams took the opportunity to test and upgrade to Commercial Launch Pad 2’s pistons used to move launch vehicles from horizontal to vertical. The upgrade doubled the number of pistons used for that task, from two to four, to improve redundancy and weight capacity, which is necessary to support heavier launch vehicles like the Long March 10B.
The rehearsal and test followed a December 2025 exercise between the two enterprises, in which only the transporter-erector was driven from iSpace’s launch preparation facilities and parked just short of the launch pad attachment points.
It’s unknown when the partially reusable Hyperbola-3 may fly for the first time, possibly carrying up to 21,500 kilograms to low Earth orbit with it. Rumours say a flight vehicle may not be ready until March.
Space Epoch also raised new funding on February 12th, completing its B series round of an undisclosed amount with investors that were briefly described as ‘leading market-oriented institutions’. What the new capital would be used for was a bit less vague, with the company saying it would allow them to scale their current facilities. Those facilities are their Beijing research and development center, an under-construction Hangzhou (杭州市) vehicle manufacturing and refurbishment facility, and a Shandong (山东) reusable technology test site, used to support a Yuanxingzhe-1 (元行者一号) hop in May 2025.
Interestingly, the Hangzhou facility only began construction a month ago, with a ground-breaking ceremony taking place on January 7th. Once constructed the manufacturing and refurbishment facility is planned to be able to produce twenty-five partially reusable Yuanxingzhe-1 launch vehicles per year, each 4.2 meters wide and 64 meters tall and able to carry about 6,500 kilograms into low Earth orbit. E-commerce giant Taobao (淘宝) is also interested in the reusable rocket for point-to-point cargo delivery.
