{"id":90367,"date":"2026-09-30T18:00:28","date_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/cas-space-delays-maiden-flight-of-reusable-lihong-2-suborbital-rocket-to-2027\/"},"modified":"2026-09-30T18:00:28","modified_gmt":"2026-09-30T10:00:28","slug":"cas-space-delays-maiden-flight-of-reusable-lihong-2-suborbital-rocket-to-2027","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/cas-space-delays-maiden-flight-of-reusable-lihong-2-suborbital-rocket-to-2027\/","title":{"rendered":"CAS Space Delays Maiden Flight of Reusable Lihong-2 Suborbital Rocket to 2027"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Guangzhou, China \u2014<strong> On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Chinese commercial launch provider CAS Space rescheduled the maiden flight of its reusable Lihong-2 suborbital launch vehicle from late 2026 to early 2027. <\/strong><\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"960\" height=\"588\" src=\"https:\/\/satnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CASpace_Resuable.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-126927\" style=\"width:737px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/satnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CASpace_Resuable.jpg 960w, https:\/\/satnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CASpace_Resuable-300x184.jpg 300w, https:\/\/satnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CASpace_Resuable-768x470.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\"><\/figure>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The initial demonstration mission will transport pharmaceutical research and life sciences payloads under a commercial services agreement with Guangzhou Laboratory.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Vehicle Architecture and Payload Parameters<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Lihong-2 rocket is a single-stage, reusable suborbital vehicle optimized for microgravity experiments, high-altitude research, and commercial biotechnology hardware testing<sup><\/sup>. The vehicle features an autonomous vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) recovery sequence designed to return the main airframe and payload capsule to the launch pad post-flight.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Maximum Payload Capacity:<\/strong> Up to 3,000 kilograms<\/li>\n<li><strong>Target Altitude Ceiling:<\/strong> Above 100 kilometers (crossing the Karman Line)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Microgravity Duration:<\/strong> Exceeding 180 seconds per mission profile<\/li>\n<li><strong>Primary Launch Payload:<\/strong> Pharmaceutical experiments supplied by Guangzhou Laboratory<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The upcoming early 2027 flight will validate payload environment stability, automated thermal management, and recovery dynamics required for high-throughput suborbital scientific testing<sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Expansion of Electric-Pump Propulsion Development<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In parallel with suborbital fleet developments, Chinese commercial aerospace companies are accelerating propulsion research for small and medium-class orbital launch vehicles<sup><\/sup>. At least four domestic Chinese aerospace startups are currently developing multi-ton electric-pump-fed rocket engines<sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">By replacing heavy, mechanically complex gas-generator turbopumps with electric motor-driven propellant pumps, developers aim to lower engine manufacturing costs, simplify staging systems, and streamline throttled engine control loops required for precise VTVL rocket landings<sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Operational Timeline to Initial Flight<\/h3>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Following full-scale static fire tests and land-based landing leg deployment verifications, CAS Space will finalize integration of Guangzhou Laboratory\u2019s bio-pharmaceutical experiment modules at its Guangzhou assembly facility<sup><\/sup>. The maiden suborbital launch of Lihong-2 remains targeted for the first quarter of 2027 from a domestic coastal test range<sup><\/sup>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Guangzhou, China \u2014 On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Chinese commercial launch provider CAS Space rescheduled the maiden flight of its reusable Lihong-2 suborbital launch vehicle from late 2026 to early 2027. The initial demonstration mission will transport pharmaceutical research and life sciences payloads under a commercial services agreement with Guangzhou Laboratory. Vehicle Architecture and Payload [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90367"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90367\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}