HELSINKI — Astronstone, one of China’s younger launch startups, has secured new funding as it builds toward the first flight of its reusable AS-1 rocket.
Astronstone’s “Pre-A+” funding round was led by investment firm Hillhouse Capital and Xingxiang Capital, affiliated with the Hunan provincial government. Minghui Zhiyuan, Qiancheng Capital, Tuofeng Capital and Zhisheng Ruiying also participated. The round shows a mix of financial, state and industrial capital, highlighting a broader pattern of mixed financial, state and industrial backing in China’s commercial launch sector.
The funding will be used for rocket final assembly and testing, validation of “chopstick” recovery technology, expansion of rocket production capacity and team growth, according to the company statement.
Astronstone says it aims for a debut flight of its two-stage AS-1 rocket in the first quarter of 2027, following planned testing milestones, including a first stage static fire, in 2026. The stainless steel, methane-liquid oxygen launcher is approximately 70 meters long with a diameter of 4.2 meters. It claims a capability of 15,700 kilograms to low Earth orbit when expendable, and 10,000 kg when recovered. The company says it is aiming to provide cost-effective launch services for the commercial satellite market at around 20,000 yuan ($2,900) per kilogram.
In addition to three early rounds secured in 2025, the company says it has now raised nearly 500 million yuan ($72 million) since its founding two years ago. Astronstone says its team has grown to 170 people as of March 2026, with research and development personnel accounting for more than 70 percent of this number. It aims to expand to 300 people by the end of the year.
Investor statements noted Astronstone’s stainless steel/methalox/reuse approach as well chosen and key to succeeding in a highly competitive sector. Private equity firm Qiancheng Capital stated its belief in the potential of space-based solar power and space computing infrastructure, with low-cost, high-capacity rocket transportation capabilities as a prerequisite. Xingxiang Capital expressed similar views in its statement.
Astronstone has made progress on hardware, having completed a second-stage static fire test campaign in December 2025 and claiming China’s first full-scale 100-ton-class “chopstick” capture arm ground test. It is also building out its industrial footprint, with a Beijing research and development center, a test base in Hebei province and a partially operational production and assembly base in Hunan province.
The company is part of a newer wave of launch startups in China which are eschewing the older approach of developing smaller or solid rockets first, and moving straight towards cutting-edge capabilities. Other early-stage entrants pursuing similar large, reusable Starship-like architectures include Nayuta Space and Cosmoleap.
China’s push for reusable launch is accelerating across both state and commercial sectors and is underpinned by demand from nascent national and commercial communications megaconstellation projects, as well as strong central government support.
Debut launches of the reusable Long March 10B and Long March 12B are expected in the coming months. The Long March 10A, also designed to be reusable and recovered using a drone ship and wire system, could launch later this year with the first full test orbital test of the new Mengzhou crew spacecraft.
Other plans include Space Pioneer and CAS Space working towards debut launches of new rockets in the near future. Deep Blue Nebula is preparing for a suborbital launch and recovery test of its Nebula-1 in the near future from new launch infrastructure at Lianli island off the coast of Haiyang, which hosts China’s maritime launch facilities. The company is working on the propulsion system for the larger Nebula-2.
In terms of commercial orbital recovery attempts, Landspace is expected to make a second launch and recovery attempt with its Zhuque-3 rocket as soon as April.