China’s DeepBlue Aerospace’s Nebula-M test rocket completed a 1km VTVL (vertical take-off and vertical-landing) flight test on May 6, 2022 as part of development of the Nebula-1 reusable orbital launcher, a milestone for the commercial space company.
Deep Blue Aerospace, founded in 2017, conducted the test May 6 with the Nebula M1 test article at a facility at Tongchuan, Shaanxi Province, landing within less than half a meter of the landing pad “bullseye”.
The test is a milestone in the development of the full Nebula-1 rocket with a recoverable first stage, and indicative of progress and efforts by Chinese launch startups to develop reusable launchers.
The landing in the video is obscured by dust thrown up by the thrust, but the company claims the test was successful.
