BEIJING – A “super factory” for the manufacturing of the Lijian 2, a large liquid-propellant carrier rocket, was fully completed in Shaoxing, East China’s Zhejiang province, on Tuesday, marking a significant leap toward the mass production phase for the launch vehicle.
The facility, which integrates final assembly testing and the processing of core components, covers production areas for key parts such as rocket tanks, pipeline valves, interstage sections and conduits. Once it is fully operational, the factory will have an annual production capacity of 12 Lijian 2 rockets, China Media Group reported.
The completion of the facility is considered a major milestone in China’s commercial space sector, signaling a shift from mere technological validation to large-scale, industrialized production, according to the report.
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The Lijian 2 is China’s first launch vehicle to adopt the Common Booster Core (CBC) configuration, a modular rocket design architecture where the first stage of the rocket and its side boosters are structurally and functionally identical.
It stands 53 meters tall and has a liftoff weight of 625 tonnes and a thrust of 753 tonnes. It is capable of carrying up to 8 tonnes to a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit or 12 tonnes to a 200-km low Earth orbit.
On March 30, the rocket successfully completed its maiden flight, demonstrating the core technologies of China’s next-generation space transportation system. During this mission, it accurately deployed the Qingzhou prototype cargo spacecraft and two satellites into the preset orbit.
Looking ahead, the Lijian 2 is expected to serve mass constellation network deployment for low-orbit communications and medium-to-high orbit satellite launches.