“The rocket is to be powered by the self-developed Lieyan-2 electric-pump-fed engine, with Spark Space aiming for a debut flight in 2027,” the company said in a statement.
### Funding and investors
Spark Space announced a Pre-A round of nearly 100 million yuan ($14.8 million) on June 1, led by Yunze Capital and Orbital Chenguang, a space computing firm that itself secured $8.4 billion in credit lines from Chinese state banks earlier this year. A Pre-A+ round of tens of millions of yuan from Cathay Capital followed, announced June 18. The startup previously raised angel and angel+ rounds within the last 12 months, with backing from a mix of private investors and Hefei government-linked capital.
The funding places Spark Space in a growing ecosystem of Chinese commercial launch companies competing for satellite constellation deployment and replenishment contracts. China’s commercial space sector has seen a surge of investment in recent years as Beijing encourages private enterprise to complement state-owned giants like the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).
### Engine development
The funding follows concrete hardware progress. Spark Space announced the first successful test firings of the Lieyan-2 kerosene-liquid oxygen engine in early March, followed by a system-wide integrated test that verified ignition stability, vibration response, and pressure behavior under operation. The company posted a 20-second clip of the test but did not disclose the duration of the hot fire runs.
The Lieyan-2 engine produces 10 tons of thrust at sea level, quadrupling the previous record for electric-pump-fed engine thrust held by Rocket Lab’s Rutherford engine (approximately 2.4 tons). The engine’s pumps deliver 414.6 kilowatts of power for propellant delivery, with a specific impulse of 300 seconds, according to the company.
Spark Space says it is leaning on China’s advanced battery technologies — developed for electric vehicles and small drones — to drive the electric pumps, alongside extensive use of metal 3D printing to reduce part count and automate manufacturing.
The company says its team draws on experience from state giants CASC, CASIC, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), according to Chinese tech outlet 36Kr.
### The electric-pump approach
The electric-pump-fed cycle replaces the traditional turbopump and gas generator with a battery-powered electric motor driving the propellant pumps. This eliminates the need for a complex hot-gas turbine, making the engine simpler, lighter, and cheaper to manufacture. Rocket Lab pioneered the approach with its Rutherford engine, which has powered more than 50 Electron launches since 2018.
However, the approach has trade-offs. Electric-pump engines suffer from lower specific impulse compared to gas-generator or staged-combustion cycles, and the battery mass required scales with engine size. Rocket Lab itself switched to a gas-generator cycle for its new medium-lift Neutron rocket, noting that the electric-pump approach does not scale efficiently to larger vehicles.
Spark Space’s Jinhua-1 sits at the upper edge of what the electric-pump approach can support. At 10 tons of thrust per engine and 90 tons of liftoff thrust total, it represents a significant leap beyond any electric-pump rocket developed to date.
### Market position and competition
Spark Space is entering a crowded and competitive small launch market in China. Solid-fueled launch vehicles already flying regularly include Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1, CAS Space’s Kinetica-1, and Expace’s Kuaizhou-1A. Liquid-fueled competitors such as LandSpace and iSpace are also ramping up operations.
The company is positioning Jinhua-1 as a low-cost, quick-response option for small and medium satellite constellation deployment and replenishment. With a payload capacity five times that of Rocket Lab’s Electron, Spark Space is betting that constellation operators will need a vehicle larger than the sub-300 kg class but smaller than medium-lift rockets.
Production and testing operations are based at a facility exceeding 10,000 square meters in Hefei’s National High-Tech Industry Development Zone, with a 20,000 square meter expansion underway.
### Outlook
Spark Space’s timeline calls for a debut flight in 2027, an ambitious target for a startup that only conducted its first engine tests in March 2026. The next milestones include engine reliability testing, first-stage propulsion system testing, and full rocket assembly and testing.
The company’s success will depend on whether it can navigate China’s competitive launch market, scale the electric-pump approach beyond what Rocket Lab deemed feasible for its next-generation vehicle, and deliver on its payload capacity promises. If it succeeds, Jinhua-1 would become the largest electric-pump rocket ever flown by a wide margin.
Draft for 1ban.news – Space Desk