ALBAWABA - Chinese rocket manufacturer Space Epoch is collaborating with Taobao, an online marketplace owned by Alibaba, to create reusable rockets for expedited shipping, according to Reuters, that could reach any location in the world in under an hour.
Space Epoch said in a note issued on its official WeChat social media account that the project is in its initial experimental phases and seeks to construct a rocket that can transport up to 10 tons of goods in a 120 cubic meter container.
"Many great endeavours seem like a joke at first," said Alibaba to the South China Morning Post, which the company owns, in a statement released on Monday. However, noting that it “won’t be easy to achieve the goal in the short term,” adding that “This should be a great and significant exploration for a long term.”
Alibaba Group logo in the outside of office building, SHENZHEN, CHINA (Shutterstock)
In November of last year, Space Epoch completed its third fundraising round, raising 200 million yuan ($27.70 million).
Chinese President Xi Jinping has previously advocated for the development of critical sectors, such as the commercial space industry, which is seen to be essential to the construction of satellite constellations for navigation, communications, and remote sensing.
Asia Financial reports that China achieved a new record of 67 orbital launches last year, including 17 successful commercial launches and one failure. Compared to 10 commercial launches in 2022, two of which failed, representing a significant increase in the nation’s space efforts.
