China’s First Offshore Reusable Rocket Base: How ¥20,000 RMB ($2,800 USD) Per Kilogram Launch Costs Could Disrupt Space

• Rocket Pi (Jianyuan Keji)
• Boson Quantum (Bose Liangzi)
• Spacety (Diwei Er)
• 2D-Super (Erwei Chaochai)

On January 7, something significant went down in Hangzhou.

Rocket Pi (Jianyuan Keji 箭元科技) broke ground on China’s first offshore reusable rocket production base – a facility that could fundamentally reshape the economics of commercial spaceflight.

This isn’t just another construction project.

This is the infrastructure play that could make launching to space economically viable for way more companies and missions.

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The Massive Investment Behind This Bet

Let’s start with the scale.

Rocket Pi, alongside partners Boson Quantum (Bose Liangzi 玻色量子), Spacety (Diwei Er 地卫二), and 2D-Super (Erwei Chaochai 二维超材), signed a strategic cooperation agreement to build out this hub.

Total investment: ¥5.2 billion RMB ($728 million USD).

What you’re getting for that money:

• A recovery and reuse center
• A testing and inspection center
• A full-scale manufacturing hub

The capacity target is ambitious: 25 rockets per year, with rapid inspection, maintenance, and turnaround after offshore recovery.

This is what a stainless steel rocket “super factory” actually looks like.

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Meet the Qiantang: The Rocket That Changes Everything

The first rocket rolling off this assembly line is called the “Qiantang” (Yuanxingzhe Yihao 元行者一号).

Here’s what the specs tell you:

• Height: 66 meters
• Diameter: 4.2 meters
• Takeoff mass: 575 tons
• Low Earth Orbit (LEO) capacity: 14 tons

For missions to 1,100km LEO, the rocket can deliver:

• 9 tons in expendable configuration
• 7 tons in recovery configuration

But the real headline? The first stage is designed to be reused 20 times.

That’s the game-changer.

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Why Reusability Actually Matters: The Cost Equation

Right now, the commercial space launch market in China operates at brutal pricing.

A single commercial rocket launch costs roughly ¥220 million RMB ($30.8 million USD).

Per kilogram of payload, you’re looking at somewhere between ¥80,000 RMB to ¥100,000 RMB ($11,200 USD to $14,000 USD).

That’s expensive enough to make most commercial space applications economically unworkable.

Here’s what changes if Rocket Pi hits its 20-reuse target:

Yi Wei (Wei Yi 魏一), Chairman of Rocket Pi, says the company can drop the cost per kilogram below ¥20,000 RMB ($2,800 USD).

That’s a ~70% cost reduction compared to today’s market rates.

To put it bluntly: that’s the difference between a space-based business model being theoretical and being actually viable for startups and mid-market companies.

“The first-stage design allows for 20 reuses, which will bring the launch cost per kilogram of payload below ¥20,000 RMB ($2,800 USD), significantly lowering the cost of entering space,” Yi Wei stated during the groundbreaking ceremony.

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Who’s Behind This? The Founder Story

Yi Wei isn’t some random entrepreneur betting on rockets.

He’s got serious pedigree in aerospace.

Educational background: Master’s degree in Aerospace Propulsion Theory and Engineering from Beihang University (Beijing Hangkong Hangtian Daxue 北京航空航天大学).

Prior roles that matter:

• Technical backbone at the 11th Institute of the Sixth Academy of Aerospace (CASIC)
• Senior technical contributor at the 11th Office of the First Academy of Aerospace (CASC) – where he worked on China’s next-generation launch vehicles
• Senior management position at i-Space (Beijing Xingji Guangyao Kongjian Keji Gufen Youxian Gongsi 北京星际荣耀空间科技股份有限公司)

Translation: This guy knows how to build rockets that actually fly.

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The Private Space Race in China Gets Real

Rocket Pi was founded in 2019 and is headquartered in Beijing.

The company specializes in reusable liquid-propellant rockets using a “stainless steel + liquid oxygen methane” propellant scheme.

So how far along are they actually?

Pretty far.

In May 2025, the Yuanxingzhe-1 (Yuanxingzhe Yihao 元行者一号) successfully completed its first offshore flight and recovery verification test.

By July 2025, the company nailed a joint gimbal hot fire test of the recovered engine and control system – basically closing the loop on the entire launch-and-recovery cycle.

The timeline now: The “Qiantang” is expected to leave the factory by the end of 2025 and will be transported directly to the offshore launch site for its maiden flight and recovery mission.

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Who’s Investing? The Money Tells a Story

According to data from Tianyancha (Tianyancha 天眼查), Rocket Pi has completed four rounds of financing.

The most recent round closed in January 2025.

The investors pulling capital here are telling:

• GSR Ventures (Jinshajiang Ziben 金沙江资本) – top-tier VC firm
• SEE Fund – another major player
• Shandong Industrial Investment – state-owned industrial fund
• Dongtai Fund – state backing again

When you’ve got both star venture capital and state-owned industrial funds betting on your rocket company, it means the market is taking this seriously.

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What This Means for the Space Industry

Here’s the bigger picture:

The space launch market has been waiting for someone to crack the reusability problem at scale and cost.

SpaceX did it in the US.

Now China is building out the infrastructure to do it domestically – with state backing, serious venture capital, and a founder who knows what he’s doing.

If Rocket Pi hits its targets, that ¥20,000 RMB ($2,800 USD) per kilogram launch cost opens up an entire new category of space-based businesses.

Satellite constellations become economically viable.

On-orbit manufacturing becomes possible.

The barrier to entry for space startups drops dramatically.

And that’s exactly what infrastructure plays are supposed to do – reduce friction and open up new markets.

Watch Rocket Pi and China’s first offshore reusable rocket base closely.

This one’s going to shape the next decade of commercial spaceflight economics.

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References

• Domestic First! Offshore Reusable Rocket Base Commences Construction – Cailian Press
• Official Website – Rocket Pi (Jianyuan Keji)
• Company Credit & Investment Data – Tianyancha
• China’s First Offshore Reusable Rocket Base Starts Construction – Eastmoney