China's Kinastra-1 Upper Stage expected to make first flight next year
The Kinastra-1 Upper Stage, independently developed by Chinese company CAS Space, is expected to make its maiden flight in Q1 next year, the country’s Science and Technology department reported recently.
As the upper stage, the Kinastra-1 will work like a transport vehicle for satellites. After it is launched into space along with the satellite payload, the rocket drops off, and the Kinastra-1 Upper Stage takes over, transfering satellites between orbits.
And now, after completing months of testing, the upper stage has accumulated over 5,200 seconds of engine ignition tests and is ready for flight tests.
The chief designer of the Kinastra-1 says in the future, it will be used in tandem with the Kinetica-2 rocket (also known as Lijian-2) for a number of scenarios.
Kinetica-2 is a Chinese medium-lift orbital launch vehicle developed by CAS Space. Kinetica-2 uses two liquid-propellant rocket stages. In its initial configuration, first stage propulsion uses a modular rocket design with three identical rockets strapped together side-by-side. It is capable of lifting 12 t (12 long tons; 13 short tons) to low Earth orbit (LEO) or 8.0 t (7.9 long tons; 8.8 short tons) to a 500 km (310 mi) Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
CAS Space is a Chinese commercial space launch provider based in Guangzhou, capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. CAS Space was founded in 2018 and is majority owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
China's 15th Five Year Plan, started this year, aims turn the country's space industry into one of its "emerging pillar" industries along with integrated circuits and biomedicine.
Duration: 1 minute, 27 seconds
Date: Sept. 1, 2026
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