China's first enterprise focusing on tower capture: Dahang Yueqian will make its maiden flight in 2027
On September 29, 2026, the joint training for the second-phase project of Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site was launched, which will raise the annual launch capacity to 60 missions. On the same day, Dahang Transition signed a cooperation agreement with Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site, covering future launch missions and technical cooperation. The company was also selected as one of the first batch of member units of the "Satellite-Launch Vehicle-Site Industrial Collaborative Innovation Alliance".
For a rocket company established for more than two years, this agreement means that it has confirmed launch resources for its maiden flight in 2027. The R&D entity of Dahang Transition is Beijing Dahang Transition Technology Co., Ltd., which is affiliated to Shenzhen Dahang Transition Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. It focuses on medium and large reusable liquid launch vehicles, and its technical route is "ground capture + intelligent control" — it does not use landing legs, and a mechanical arm extended from the launch tower clamps the returning first stage in mid-air.
The company is pushing forward a new round of financing. Previously, it completed a financing of 100 million yuan level in November 2024, and a 500 million yuan financing in the first half of 2026. The two rounds of funds were mainly invested in the R&D and maiden flight of "Transition-1", as well as the R&D and testing of hundred-ton level liquid oxygen methane engines.
I. The capacity gap in constellation deployment is tied to the cost per kilogram
The launch demand for low-orbit constellations can be quantified into specific figures. Public bidding information shows that the 18-satellite single-launch mission of Yuanxin requires a carrying capacity of 4.8 tons; the single satellite of SatNet weighs about 500 to 600 kilograms, and the payload of multi-satellite single-launch missions is usually above 6 tons, close to 10 tons. These two figures constitute the minimum "parcel" unit for current constellation launch missions.
Before 2025, most of the flyable models of domestic private rockets were concentrated at 2 tons and below — 200 kg, 1 ton, 2 tons. Chen Shuguang, founder and chairman of Dahang Transition, judges that medium and large capacity can only be discussed starting from 5 tons. This judgment directly determines the design starting point of the company's first rocket: instead of developing small rockets first to verify capabilities, it directly crosses to the magnitude that can undertake constellation deployment orders.
The public parameters of "Transition-1" are: takeoff thrust of 720 tons, takeoff mass of 554 tons, total rocket height of about 70 meters, diameter of 4.2 meters, disposable carrying capacity to low Earth orbit of about 18 tons, and about 12 tons under the condition of first-stage recovery. The rocket body adopts aluminum alloy material to reduce structural weight, and the first stage increases thrust through parallel connection of multiple engines. According to the company's plan, the carrying capacity to 200km low Earth orbit is about 18 tons, and there is still about 10 tons at 800km orbit, covering the mainstream orbital heights for constellation deployment.
Apart from carrying capacity, the unit cost is what truly determines the commercial closed loop. According to reports from *China Aerospace News*, the first stage accounts for about 70% of the total cost of the rocket; after realizing the reuse of the first stage, the cost of a single launch can be reduced by 40% to 60%; when the cumulative reuse times of a single rocket reach 10, the single launch cost can be reduced to 30% of that of a brand-new rocket. The calculation given by Chen Shuguang in public occasions is consistent with this: relying on the domestic industrial supply chain, calculated based on 10 times of reuse, it is possible to reduce the overall cost to less than one third of the current level, corresponding to the target of keeping the launch cost per kilogram within 10,000 RMB.
This target is not only being promoted by one company. In July 2026, after the Long March 10B was launched at Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site, it completed first-stage recovery in a net capture mode on a sea platform; in August, the Zhuque-3 Y2 completed land recovery with landing legs. Three recovery technical routes have successively entered the engineering verification stage within two months, which means that "reusing 10 times" has changed from an assumption to a competition problem that requires engineering efficiency to compete for.
II. No landing legs, move complexity to the ground
There are currently three solutions for rockets to return. The landing leg mode means the rocket carries four legs and stands by itself after landing; net capture means the rocket flies into a large open net; tower capture means a mechanical arm extends from the launch tower and clamps the rocket body in mid-air. SpaceX's Starship adopts the third route, and Dahang Transition is the first private company in China to take this route as its main R&D direction.
The direct consequence of choosing tower capture is moving cost and complexity from the rocket to the ground. Removing landing legs can reduce the structural weight on the rocket by about 6 tons, and this part of weight can be converted into effective carrying capacity, with an increase of about 1/8 to 1/6 in carrying capacity. At the same time, it is necessary to add towers, braking systems, energy supply and discharge systems on the ground, making the ground system more complex. However, ground equipment can be scaled up, with one-time investment and multiple reuses, and its cost is far lower than the cost of rocket weight that has to be paid repeatedly in each flight. The comparison given by Chen Shuguang is that the single-use cost of the tower scheme is about 1/10 of that of the landing leg scheme.
The premise for this logic to hold is that the tower itself is accurate enough. For this purpose, Dahang Transition has self-developed the tower controller "Little Spark", which aims to complete centimeter-level intelligent control and high-precision landing point control, calculate the position and attitude deviation in real time during the whole capture process, and command the mechanical arm to complete motion compensation. "Little Spark" has gone through multiple rounds of iterations, and the company has laid out a number of patents around tower capture, including "A control method, device and equipment for tower mechanical arm for rocket recovery".
The verification process is divided into two steps. The first step is structural verification: the tower has successively completed static load test and modal test, arranged multiple types of sensors such as strain sensors and acceleration sensors on the structure, and collected structural response data of hundreds of measuring points. The second step is dynamic verification: the company adopts the method of "digital twin + dynamic capture", the navigation guidance and control system generates different recovery trajectories, repeatedly simulates the matching between the tower and the rocket on the full trajectory in the digital environment, and verifies everything from trajectory deviation to capture window, from manipulator motion planning to buffer strategy in the virtual environment first, then completes the closed loop with the real tower system.
The drop shock test is a convincing node among them. The weight of the first stage when the rocket returns is about 40 tons, the company uses a scaled part of about 20 tons to carry out drop tests, to test the buffer performance, positioning performance and capture performance, and the measured data converges with the simulation results. In November 2024, China's first ground test of the "chopsticks clamping" recovery tower was completed, which took about one year from the concept proposal to ground verification.
After ground verification comes the sea test. The company plans to build a recovery tower platform at sea in the follow-up, and sea-based recovery means more flexible launch zone selection and more intensive launch frequency. On November 1, 2026, three national standards for sea launch compiled under the leadership of Oriental Spaceport were officially implemented. Chen Shuguang told *National Business Daily* that the significance of national standards first lies in reducing non-technical transaction costs — platform type selection, environmental condition assessment and infrastructure data have unified references, and site conditions, platform interfaces and safety boundaries will become more stable. But he also emphasized that the national standards solve the problem of versatility of sites and platforms, and do not replace the company's own recovery technology verification. Sea dynamic capture involves high-precision relative navigation, space-ground beacon correction, terminal vision and altimeter fusion, engine swing and cold gas combined control, force matching between capture hook and grid rudder, all of which must complete closed loop under real sea conditions.
The path of placing equipment on the ground relies on the existing domestic industrial supply. According to Chen Shuguang, China's supply chains for tower cranes, steel structures and offshore engineering platforms are mature, and the industrial foundation of offshore wind power and offshore engineering equipment can directly support the recovery platform, "make good use of the strong domestic supply chain and do not reinvent the wheel".
III. From the tower to the second stage, the test list is getting shorter
When it officially started operation in March 2024, Dahang Transition had the "chopsticks clamping" tower recovery verification platform, the on-board flight control computer "Spark No.1", and China's first recovery tower controller "Little Spark".
On March 12, 2025, the day after the closing of the National Two Sessions, at a test site in the southwest of Beijing, a liquid oxygen methane engine operated continuously for more than 1000 seconds according to the real flight sequence, and the flight control system driving it came from this company established for only one year. The significance of this test run does not lie in the engine itself — which is a mature product of the "national team" — but that the control system of a private enterprise completed the matching under such duration and sequence requirements for the first time.
In May of the same year, the complete machine coordination test of the "Transition-1" auxiliary power system was completed. This system adopts a helium-pressurized bipropellant attitude control power system, including core components such as storage tanks, gas cylinders, 300N engines, 100N engines and valves, supporting pre-packaged filling. The test run assessed tasks such as rocket roll, pitch, yaw attitude control and propellant settling, simulated the complete flight profile sequence, and the total program duration reached the thousand-second level. After the test run, the product was in good condition, and the system thus entered the mass production stage.
In 2026, the test density increased significantly. In late September, the maiden flight rocket of "Transition-1" completed three core tests simultaneously in a single day: second-stage engine calibration test, methane semi-closed self-pressurization test, and second-stage engine mechanical environment parameter collection test. Among them, the second-stage engine completed three rounds of ignition within one day: the first round assessed the ignition sequence, thrust output and combustion stability under rated working conditions; the second round adjusted the thrust range on the basis of rated working conditions to assess the combustion stability and mixture ratio control accuracy under variable thrust conditions; the third round specially verified the secondary start performance after the coasting phase.
The self-pressurization item is worth mentioning separately. The traditional scheme uses pressurized gas cylinders with inert gas such as helium to pressurize the storage tank, at the cost of increased structural weight and system complexity. Self-pressurization uses the gas generated by the heated and vaporized propellant to complete pressurization, without the need for external gas cylinders and external gas sources. "Transition-1" adopts the methane semi-closed scheme, which introduces part of the methane vapor generated by the engine operation into the storage tank, and the rest of the gas circulates inside the system. This scheme can simplify the structure, reduce costs and improve maintainability, but it has strict requirements for the control accuracy of temperature, pressure and flow of pressurized gas, and the semi-closed cycle also needs to solve the problems of thermal management and medium condensation in the gas circulation process. The passing of the test means that the matching between the pressurized delivery system and the second-stage engine has been verified.
In the following month, the second-stage instrument compartment structural static test, the second-stage outflow test of the pressurized delivery system, and the second-stage electrical system comprehensive matching test were completed successively. The instrument compartment is a key load-bearing component connecting the upper stage and the payload. The test simulates the extreme mechanical conditions in real flight, and all indicators meet the design requirements. The company said that this marks that the core verification work in the engineering prototype stage has achieved substantive breakthroughs.
Progress on the power side is also advancing. The 150-ton level liquid oxygen methane engine "Qingyu-11" is designed under the idea of "one model for multiple uses". Based on the fixed-thrust version, it derives two major series of variable-thrust version and vacuum version, which can adapt to the power requirements of the first stage and the second stage. Focusing on the three goals of high thrust-to-weight ratio, high reliability and intelligent control, it breaks through key technologies such as multiple ignition, deep variable thrust and long-life design. In October 2026, the engine completed the development and test of core components.
On the production capacity side, the Dahang Transition commercial rocket engine base, which was signed in September 2025 and launched in May 2026, is located in Qingfeng Science and Innovation City, Shapingba, Chongqing, focusing on the whole process of R&D, manufacturing and testing of medium and large reusable rocket engines. At the launching ceremony, the company signed strategic cooperation agreements with six enterprises including Chengdu Xinshan Aerospace, Beijing Xinte Coating, Weifang Yunshen Machinery, Beijing Hangxing Transmission, Anhui Zhiyu Technology and Chongqing Lianghang Metal Materials, covering links such as material R&D and precision manufacturing; the Institute of Space Science of Chongqing University participated in the co-construction of innovation platforms and joint technical research. In addition, Tianjin Dahang Transition and Dongguan Transition Technology were established in June 2026 respectively, and the company's layout of "core city leadership + regional coordination" began to take shape.
The pace on the capital side corresponds to this. The 100 million yuan level financing in November 2024 was led by Sheneng Chengyi, with participation from Tianchuang Capital, Baiyan Fund, Xianfeng Changqing and investor Zhang Chao; the 500 million yuan financing in the first half of 2026 was led by Qianhai Ark, Houji Capital and Puhua Capital, with joint participation from institutions including Junling Capital, Haiyuan Capital, Huifengda, Junchuan Capital, Chongqing Shachuang Technology, Zhongzhong Technology, Yuanchuang Capital, Hanli Capital, Shanghai Angel Association and the industrial partner Shenhou Cable. Some old shareholders increased their positions, and China Renaissance served as the long-term financial advisor.
IV. What is still missing before the maiden flight in 2027
The configuration of the maiden flight rocket reveals the company's priority of risk ranking. Chen Shuguang reviewed the fault distribution of liquid rocket maiden flights: about 60% occur in the power and power system, 15% to 20% occur in flight control sequence and separation, and 5% to 10% occur in assembly and operation. Accordingly, the first stage of the company's first rocket adopts mature 80-ton level liquid oxygen methane engines in parallel to form a takeoff thrust of 720 tons, reducing the largest risk source first; the flight control system adheres to independent R&D.
Self-developed flight control is a difference between this company and most of its peers. At present, most domestic commercial aerospace enterprises adopt mature external flight control solutions, but the core difficulties of reusable rockets — deep variable thrust of engines, multiple ignition, high-precision return control — are highly dependent on the flight control system. At the same time, a large number of ground tests, process verification, anomaly simulation and subsequent on-board intelligent evolution also require the flight control system as the core scheduling unit. Relying on external solutions will significantly extend the debugging and testing cycle, which is the direct reason why the company chooses to develop it on its own.
According to public information, links such as final rocket assembly, full rocket static test, power system test run and comprehensive test still need to be completed before the maiden flight. The joint static test in August 2026, the instrument compartment static test in September, and the electrical system comprehensive matching test in October are all intermediate nodes on this chain. It needs to be distinguished that successful maiden flight and successful recovery are two different things. Between the ground verification of tower capture and dynamic capture under real flight conditions, there are a series of variables that can only be exposed in flight, such as aerodynamics, heat flow, and sea wind and waves. The fact that the company takes the sea recovery tower platform as the next step of planning also shows that the verification of this path has to be completed in several stages.
The competitive landscape has become clear at the same time. The Sci-Tech Innovation Board IPO of CAS Space was accepted in March 2026, and the review of Blue Arrow Aerospace was suspended due to expired financial documents; CAS Space disclosed that the existing order schedule of Lijian-1 has been planned to the second half of 2027. For Dahang Transition, whose maiden flight is in 2027, this means that when it enters the market, customers' comparison criteria for carrying capacity, price and performance records have been established. The latecomer advantage is that it does not have the burden of historical models, and can directly adopt an integrated scheme of lightweight, reusability and high carrying capacity from the top-level design; the disadvantage is also obvious — it must use one maiden flight to prove that all previous conclusions of ground tests are valid.
The team composition is another clue for judgment. Chen Shuguang holds a master's degree from Northwestern Polytechnical University. He grew up in the environment of Base 066 in Yuan'an, Hubei in his early years, once worked in China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, and entered the commercial aerospace field in 2016. According to public resume, he once led the team as the technical person in charge to complete China's first full-scale rocket first-stage vertical takeoff and landing flight test and the reuse flight of reusable rockets. The company has formed an R&D team led by academician consultants, and Mei Jiawei, deputy