MicroLight Space secures tens of millions in financing, revolutionizes rockets with carbon fiber technology, and aims to achieve an orbital entry cost of 20,000 yuan per kilogram | Exclusive report by Hard Krypton
Author: Ou Xue
Editor: Peng Xiaoqiu
Yingke has learned that "Weiguang Qihang" recently completed tens of millions of yuan in angel - round financing. The investor is an industrial institution in the north, which will provide long - term strategic support for "Weiguang Qihang". The funds from this round of financing will be mainly used for team building and accelerating the implementation of core technologies.
Founded in March 2025, "Weiguang Qihang" independently developed the WG - 1 Weiguang No.1 medium - sized liquid reusable launch vehicle. It is the world's first launch vehicle integrating the core technologies of "full - flow staged combustion cycle power + carbon fiber composite materials + liquid oxygen methane", and also the first all - carbon fiber composite material rocket in China.
It is understood that the core team of Weiguang Qihang has many years of experience in the field of launch vehicles/missiles. Led by many "practical" national - level researchers such as professional rocket chief designers and engine chief designers, the team combination and product top - level design form a closed - loop from the design end, material end, manufacturing end to the launch end. The team has cumulatively developed and completed flight tests of more than 50 key models. Gao Huan, the founder and CEO of Weiguang Qihang, was the person in charge of the final assembly project of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology and an expert in rocket final assembly process technology/skills.
Data from the China Merchants Industry Research Institute shows that from 2020 to 2024, the compound annual growth rate of China's commercial space industry output value reached 22.9%. It is estimated that the output value of this industry will reach 2.8 trillion yuan in 2025. In addition, a report previously released by the CCID Research Institute also stated that China's commercial space industry chain has achieved rapid development and is expected to reach maturity at the end of the 15th Five - Year Plan or during the 16th Five - Year Plan period.
"The era of large - scale space exploration has arrived," Gao Huan said. "Space resources follow the principle of 'first come, first served'. Countries around the world are seizing the opportunity to layout the commercial space field and have successively introduced various support policies. The competition for space resources has entered a tense global stage." Gao Huan believes that launch vehicles are no longer just a means of transportation to space; they will become the carrier of the "Moore's Law" in the space economy. For every order - of - magnitude reduction in cost, 10 times more application scenarios will be unlocked.
For example, SpaceX reduced the cost of using the Falcon 9 rocket through rocket recovery and reuse technology, unlocking the Starlink communication scenario. The global user scale of SpaceX's Starlink has exceeded 6 million, and its revenue in 2024 reached as high as $8.2 billion. The low - cost and high - efficiency launch vehicle enables SpaceX to build a closed - loop ecological system for space - to - earth transportation from the physical layer to the space application layer, forming a commercial closed - loop. In the early stage of the space economy, rockets start from the basic physical application of space delivery, and will ultimately become the key to unlocking space trade.
In the early market of the space economy, launch vehicles mainly provide launch services. Constellations planned by countries around the world are emerging one after another. Currently, there are many satellites but few rockets, and the global launch vehicle capacity is seriously insufficient. Gao Huan analyzed to Yingke that there are currently three major core pain points: First, the homogeneous and involuted competition is fierce, the technical routes are single, and there is a lack of breakthroughs in core technologies; second, the cost is high and the efficiency is low, the cost per kilogram of launch is high, and the input - output ratio is unbalanced; third, it cannot meet diverse commercial needs.
Therefore, Weiguang Qihang's solution is to return to the first - principle design, focus on breaking through high - performance engine and lightweight structure technologies, solve the fundamental problem of "how to obtain the maximum speed increment with the minimum mass cost to accelerate each kilogram of matter to 7.9 kilometers per second", and adopt advanced manufacturing technologies (3D printing, computational engineering, etc.) to reduce manufacturing costs, improve functions, and optimize design and manufacturing solutions. The ultimate goal is to reduce the comprehensive cost of the rocket by improving the launch efficiency. Against the background of the era of large - scale space exploration, the cost reduction of rockets is an inevitable trend, and the era when the cost per kilogram drops from ten thousand yuan to one thousand yuan will eventually come.
The self - developed Weiguang No.1 rocket of Weiguang Qihang (Source: the enterprise)
Gao Huan said that the Huaguang No.1 engine independently developed by Weiguang Qihang is the first in China and the third in the world to adopt the full - flow staged combustion cycle liquid oxygen methane engine. The fuel combustion efficiency of this engine can reach over 99%, which will increase the rocket's launch capacity by 30%.
Comparison between the self - developed engine of Weiguang Qihang and other rocket engines (Source: the enterprise)
In addition, in terms of materials, different from the stainless steel and aluminum alloys commonly used in traditional rockets, Weiguang Qihang innovatively applies carbon fiber technology for the first time in China. This material can cover 90% of the rocket's structure, helping to increase the rocket's launch capacity by 10% and the economic benefits by 25%.
"In the overall design, structural weight reduction is the core battlefield, especially for the upper stage. Every kilogram of weight reduction directly translates into one kilogram of precious payload. There is no best material, only the most suitable one. For the Weiguang No.1 medium - sized launch vehicle, lightweight carbon fiber composite materials may be the most suitable solution," Gao Huan said.
Gao Huan further introduced that by using modified high - performance low - temperature epoxy resin and advanced carbon fiber materials, Weiguang Qihang has successfully completed the manufacturing and rigorous low - temperature characteristic tests of carbon fiber storage tanks with diameters of 1.4 meters and 3.35 meters. The key indicators (liquid oxygen compatibility, low - temperature sealing performance, evaporation rate, etc.) all meet the design requirements. In the future, Weiguang Qihang will continue to promote the engineering development and manufacturing of carbon fiber storage tanks and sections with a diameter of 3.8 meters, striving to fill the gap in the large - scale application of carbon fiber composite materials in domestic medium - sized liquid launch vehicles.
"We have returned to the first - principle of rockets to redesign the rocket's efficient power system and lightweight structure. We improve the rocket's unit launch capacity and enhance manufacturing efficiency through additive manufacturing processes such as 3D printing and automatic fiber placement, reducing the comprehensive manufacturing cost. Therefore, for our rocket in single - use mode, the cost per kilogram to orbit is expected to be reduced to less than 20,000 yuan in the future, the cost of recovery and reuse will be less than 5,000 yuan, and the comprehensive cost will be reduced by 50%," Gao Huan said.
Yingke has learned that the development of the Weiguang No.1 rocket is still in an orderly progress. The manufacturing of the storage tank prototype, water pressure test, sealing test, liquid oxygen test, low - temperature sealing test, pressure test, etc. have been completed. The overall design of the engine has been completed, and multiple design iterations have been carried out. The half - system test of the Huaguang No.1 engine will be conducted at the end of the year to verify the core technologies of the engine. Gao Huan revealed that the Weiguang No.1 rocket is planned to make its first flight in 2028 and achieve recovery and reuse in 2030.
Views of the investor:
A northern industrial institution said: "We firmly recognize the development opportunities in the 'era of large - scale space exploration' and are very concerned about the disruptive changes brought about by the new - generation technology platform. The Weiguang Qihang team has a profound technical background and revolutionary innovation ability. Such a team is very rare, and its technical route and product planning are in line with the development trend. We are very honored to participate in the angel - round investment of Weiguang Qihang and look forward to the team's continuous breakthroughs in technology and products, contributing to China's space industry."