Shijian-25 Refueling Demonstration Nears, Space Cooperation Broadens
Meanwhile, Tianwen-2 is healthy in deep space.
In the last week, China’s space sector has continued its flurry of activity, outlining reusable rocket plans, considering new intranational and international collaboration, and maneuvering satellites between geostationary orbit and deep space. Additionally, at the time of publication, Tianlong-3’s second-stage may have completed a static fire off the coast of Haiyang. But details on it are unknown at present, so it will be covered later.
Shijian-25 closes in on Shijian-21
The Shijian-25 technology demonstration refueling spacecraft is currently closing in on the Shijian-21 space debris mitigation satellite, likely for a spacecraft-to-spacecraft refueling test out in geostationary orbit. It is unknown when a refueling test will take place, probably after June 11th, but spacecraft observers note:
“Shijian-25 performed four maneuvers between 6 June 01:50 UTC and 7 June 16:51 UTC, using a total delta-v of 8.29 m/s and increasing its drift rate from –0.006°/day to -1.535°/day.”
Meanwhile, two U.S. military spacecraft, USA-270 and USA-271, remain nearby, possibly for observations of the refueling test. USA-271 notably buzzed TJSW-15 and TJSW-16 back in April.
Tianwen-2 releases first image!
On June 6th, the China National Space Administration released the first image from the Tianwen-2 probe eight days into its mission and three million kilometers from Earth. The release of the image follows speculation on why no images were shared earlier.
The Tianwen-2 spacecraft is currently healthy and en route to asteroid 2016HO3/469219 Kamoʻoalewa, with a planned arrival in 2027, where it will gather between 200 and 1,000 grams of samples. Around 2029, those samples will be returned to Earth during a flyby.
Astronstone founders on reusable rocket plans
In recent months, Astronstone (宇石空间) raised over 100 million Yuan (approximately 13.9 million United States Dollars, as of June 10th) for its partially reusable AS-1 launch vehicle. AS-1 is planned to be 4.2 meters in diameter and 70 meters tall and weigh 570,000 kilograms fully fuelled, while being made of stainless steel and burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen, with nine engines on the first-stage generating 700 tons of thrust to carry 15,700 kilograms into orbit when expended or 10,000 kilograms when reused. Recovery for first-stage reuse will see the first-stages caught by a catch tower.
In early June, the company’s three founders, Tang Wen (唐文), Tian Jichao (田继超), and Zhu Xinwen (朱新文), participated in an interview to outline their reasoning and plans for their reusable rocket. The three have previously worked in China's national space programs before founding Astronstone.
The founders have set September of this year as the target for first-stage static fires tests, along with an extensive test campaign in the lead-up to having a launch vehicle at a launch site. Between late 2026 and early 2027, they plan to attempt AS-1’s maiden orbital flight. It’s unknown if rocket reuse will be implemented from flight one, but catch tower testing is aimed for next year.
Through 2028, the three founders hope that AS-1’s launch rate will increase to allow for rapid iteration to optimize flights to be as cost-effective as possible, via understanding how much propellant needs to be left onboard for recovery, along with exploring the limits of the rocket’s capacity. Once rocket operations have been refined, the founders hope that AS-1 will be mass-produced for high-frequency launches.
However, Astronstone’s founders are not in a rush to reach the market, adding that the commercial launch market offers equal opportunities, but success requires strategic patience. As such, the trio views their delayed entry as advantageous, allowing them to avoid the missteps of earlier industry pioneers while directly addressing the emerging demand from multi-thousand-satellite constellations.
ADA Space hosts UAE delegation
ADA Space announced on June 3rd that a week earlier, on May 27th, they had received the delegations from the United Arab Emirates Chamber of Commerce and the Economic and Trade Group for a visit to the company’s facilities in Chengdu (成都市).
According to ADA space, the delegation received a comprehensive understanding of the overall development of the company, along with the latest updates about the Three-Body Computing Constellation, which will launch a few thousand AI compute satellites. Following the visit, the delegation is said to have invited ADA Space to provide technical support for the development of the United Arab Emirates’ space industry.
Hong Kong, Hainan explore space cooperation
Wenchang International Space City (文昌国际航天城) shared on June 9th an overview of a meeting held on June 6th between them, Hainan Tourism Investment Group Co Ltd (海南省旅游投资集团有限公司), Hainan International Commercial Space Launch Co Ltd (海南国际商业航天发射有限公司), Hong Kong Trade Development Council (香港贸易发展局), Hong Kong International Aerospace Industry (Group) Co Ltd (香港国际航天产业（集团）有限公司), China Mobile International (Hong Kong) Limited (中国移动（香港）国际有限公司), Chinese University of Hong Kong (香港中文大学), Manulife Insurance Company, China Tourism Group (中国旅游集团), and undisclosed other entprises along with a member of the Boao Forum for Asia as well as politicans from the People's Government of Hainan Province and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The overview shared that the meeting aimed to showcase Hainan’s capabilities and potential in commercial space launches, while leveraging Hong Kong’s unique strengths in financial services and space technology, as the city is well known as a global financial center, while having participated in Chang’e missions and joining more. In the meeting, delegates are said to have shared their respective advantages and explored future collaboration, with Hong Kong planning to simplify the application for low Earth orbit satellite licenses to provide policy support for emerging low Earth orbit satellite services and businesses. Additionally, the two sides are hoping to establish ‘four communities’ of commercial launch innovation, satellite intelligent manufacturing, aerospace tourism integration, and international cooperation demonstration to prove a path of market-driven commercial space cooperation under the ‘One Country, Two Systems’ framework1.
U.S. use of BeiDou
Sean Gorman, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of Zephr.xyz wrote an opinion piece for SpaceNews titled Is China’s BeiDou a weapon of war?, that was released on June 9th. Despite the provocative title, the piece is quite informative and fairly balanced.
Within the piece, it is argued that the U.S. should resist restricting access to BeiDou satellite navigation system despite growing security concerns, as concerns stem from misconceptions rather than engineering facts. Like claims about malware delivery being technically unfounded.
Sean also brings up that restricting BeiDou would force costly system redesigns, delay technological rollouts, and reduce U.S. competitiveness in global markets that rely on interoperable navigation systems. Meanwhile, China would continue building international partnerships around open navigation services, potentially isolating U.S. companies from emerging markets.
In the end, Sean concludes that BeiDou serves as a soft power tool and weaponizing it would be counterproductive, given China's increasing geopolitical credibility and multibillion-dollar investment into the system.
This is just a brief summary, I’d recommend reading Sean’s full piece on SpaceNews if it interests you.
One Country, Two Systems is a governance principle employed by China for the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions, originally intended to facilitate reunification with Taiwan Island. Under One Country, Two Systems, regions continue to have their own governmental system, legal, economic, financial affairs, and trade relations with other countries.