---
title: "China’s Link Space Unveiled Design for a Reusable Rocket"
description: "Reusable rockets help make space launches more cost-effective and accessible. Now, China's first private rocket company has detailed New Line 1, a small launch vehicle that will cost as little as $2.25 million per launch."
date: "2017-09-21"
modified: "2017-09-21"
authors:
  - name: "Brad Jones"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/bradj"
url: "https://futurism.com/chinas-link-space-unveiled-design-for-a-reusable-rocket"
categories:
  - "Off-World"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "link space"
  - "new line 1"
  - "reusable rocket"
  - "SpaceX"
---

# China’s Link Space Unveiled Design for a Reusable Rocket

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/rocket-1245696_1920.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://pixabay.com/en/rocket-ses-9-launch-cape-canaveral-1245696/" target="\_blank"\>Pixabay\</a\>\</em\>*

## Reusable Rockets

China's first private rocket company has [unveiled the design](<http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Chinese_company_eyes_development_of_reusable_launch_vehicle_999.html>) for a reusable space launch system, that works in a similar manner to [SpaceX's Falcon 9 booster](<https://futurism.com/the-40th-flight-of-the-falcon9-was-a-success>). Link Space's New Line 1 — otherwise known as Xin Gan Xian 1 — is a small launch vehicle that's tailored for use in microsatellite and nanosatellite launches.

The two-stage liquid rocket will measure 66 feet in length, have a diameter of 5.9 feet, and will have a mass of 33 metric tons pre-launch. Its takeoff thrust of 400 kN will allow it to send around 440 pounds of equipment into a sun-synchronous orbit of between 155 and 342 miles.

Only the first stage of the New Line 1 rocket is reusable. However, Link Space has high hopes that a future iteration of the technology will also have a reusable second stage, making it even more desirable for commercial space programs.

## Space Spending

It costs a huge amount of money to send things into space. However, reusable rockets like the New Line 1 can mitigate the costs substantially.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDYI\_ncr458

A brand new New Line 1 rocket costs $4.5 million to launch. However, reusing the first stage of the rocket drops the cost to just $2.25 million for subsequent launches. [SpaceX's Falcon 9](<https://futurism.com/spacexs-falcon-9-will-aid-in-a-us-air-force-launch>) offers a cost reduction of [around 30 percent](<http://spacenews.com/spacexs-reusable-falcon-9-what-are-the-real-cost-savings-for-customers/>) when its first stage rocket is reused — although it's capable of lifting much heavier payloads, so the actual price tag is far higher.

SpaceX is very cool and Falcon 9 is extremely great, we take SpaceX as our goal and guider, because there are too many advantages for us to learn," said Link Space founder and CEO Hu Zhenyu in an [interview with ](<http://www.astrowatch.net/2017/09/in-footsteps-of-spacex-chinese-company.html>)*[AstroWatch](<http://www.astrowatch.net/2017/09/in-footsteps-of-spacex-chinese-company.html>)*.