(Yicai) Aug. 21 -- Despite a recent flurry of launches, progress in China’s commercial space sector is being held back by bottlenecks in capacity and technology, industry insiders have told Yicai.

There have been nine rocket launches in China in the past 25 days, more than a quarter of the total in the first half of the year. But there have also been problems that pointed to ongoing issues in the sector.

Last week, startup Landspace experienced a failure following an anomaly during the launch of its Zhuque-2E Y3 carrier rocket. The specific reason for the failure has not yet been made public.

Launch costs are a growing concern. Satellites prices have come down, thanks to manufacturing maturity in China, but the cost of putting them into orbit can be more than the satellite itself, a senior executive at a satellite manufacturer told Yicai.

A single launch costs around CNY150,000 (USD20,900) per kilogram, the person said, meaning that putting a 500-kilogram satellite into space can cost as much as CNY75 million (USD10.4 million).

“It’s pricey, very pricey,” said Jiang Luye, chief technology officer at Xingsuo Technology, a maker of reusable liquid-fuelled rockets. If carrying capacity can be improved, more satellites can be put into orbit in just one launch, Jiang said, noting that this capacity depends on the performance of the engines and their potential for recycling.

But there are technical problems in the most common rocket technology used in China, which uses kerelox, a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen. It creates deposits that are hard to clean, Jiang said, which adds to the costs. By comparison, the famed Raptor engine in US-based SpaceX’s rockets uses liquid oxygen and methane, which is more suitable for reuse.

Jiang said his company is researching a new generation of rockets that will have much greater liftoff weight. “The greater the single-time carrying capacity is, the lower the general launching costs will be,” he said, adding that costs could be cut by 50 percent or more.

The company is now 60-strong, with staff drawn from various prestigious Chinese universities and it will expand to around 200 people by the end of this year, Jiang said. Research efforts will focus on rocket recycling and engine technology, he noted.

Editor: Tom Litting