Deep Blue Aerospace深蓝航天
Reusable kerolox launch vehicles (Nebula-1, Nebula-2); suborbital space tourism
Deep Blue Aerospace was founded by Huo Liang in November 2016 and is headquartered in Nantong, Jiangsu, with a production base in Wuxi High-tech Zone. It focuses on reusable kerolox launch vehicles. Its first rocket, Nebula-1, is about 30.2 m tall with nine Thunder-R engines on the first stage producing about 180 t of sea-level thrust and about 2 t to LEO, and is planned to attempt first-stage recovery on its maiden flight. In September 2024 Nebula-1 completed a 10 km-class high-altitude recovery test that ended with a landing anomaly; in September 2025 the vacuum Thunder engine for the second stage completed a 308-second test, and in November 2025 the nine-engine first-stage cluster test succeeded at the Mashan test site in Jinan. The company has since moved the maiden-flight window several times: around Chinese New Year (January 2026 statement), the first half of 2026 at Dongfang Spaceport with a sea-recovery test (February), and 'the rocket is in place at a launch site in Shandong' (March); the vehicle appeared in Haiyang, Shandong in mid-March 2026, and as of 30 August 2026 no public report of a Nebula-1 maiden flight could be found. The follow-on Nebula-2 is planned at 25 t to LEO. On funding, the company received several hundred million yuan from Wuxi High-tech Zone Investment Holding in July 2024 and closed a B4 round of nearly RMB 500 million in March 2025; no new round was found between September 2025 and August 2026. In October 2024 it began selling suborbital tourism tickets for 2027 at RMB 1.5 million each.
- Corrected on 2026-08-30：This profile previously gave the headquarters as 江苏南通（无锡设有基地）— "Nantong, Jiangsu (base in Wuxi)". The company's own About and Contact pages list only two addresses — headquarters at 256 Chengnan Road, Wuxi National Hi-Tech District, Jiangsu, and a branch in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area — with no Nantong address anywhere on the site. Corrected to Wuxi. Nantong may be the registered-entity location, which we could not verify, so it is no longer stated.
Last 12 months
- 21 Aug 2026DevelopmentDeep Blue Aerospace completes a 100-second long-duration hot fire of the 130-tonne-class Leiting-RS engine
The Leiting-RS engine completed a 100-second long-duration hot-fire test, with measured thrust of 1,297.5 kN (about 132.3 tf).
Source: Future Tianji · originally published 21 Aug 2026 - 17 Aug 2026ContractsDeep Blue Aerospace signs a strategic cooperation agreement with Hangzhou Aimeiyi Aviation
Deep Blue Aerospace and Hangzhou Aimeiyi Aviation signed a strategic cooperation agreement. Terms were not disclosed.
Source: Future Tianji · originally published 17 Aug 2026 - 29 Jun 2026DevelopmentFlight-configuration Leiting-RS engine shown publicly for the first time at the Wuxi commercial space exhibition
The 130-tonne-class Leiting-RS engine, the main propulsion for Xingyun-2, was displayed publicly for the first time in flight configuration at a commercial space exhibition in Wuxi.
Source: Future Tianji · originally published 29 Jun 2026 - 08 Apr 2026Funding in progressListed company Uloka discloses a planned RMB 100 million strategic investment in Deep Blue Aerospace
In its annual report, listed company Uloka disclosed that it planned to complete a RMB 100 million strategic investment in Deep Blue Aerospace during the year. No closing announcement had been seen as of August 2026.
Source: Future Tianji · originally published 08 Apr 2026 - 05 Apr 2026DevelopmentNebula-1 appears in Haiyang, Shandong ahead of first orbital attempt
Reports said Nebula-1 (Nebula-1A) appeared in Haiyang, Shandong in mid-March 2026 for a launch from the Lianli Island sea-based flight and recovery test platform; two earlier three-engine first-stage hop tests ended in partial success and a loss-of-control explosion respectively. (Publish time taken from date.)
Source: China in Space · originally published 05 Apr 2026 - 02 Mar 2026Launch scheduleDeep Blue says Nebula-1 is in place at a Shandong launch site, targeting recovery on the maiden flight
The company said it had closed out a 340-second long-duration engine test, stage-separation ground tests and the nine-engine cluster test over the past year, that the rocket was in place at a launch site in Shandong, and that it expected a first-quarter maiden flight with a first-stage recovery attempt.
Source: Sina Finance · originally published 02 Mar 2026, 05:29 Beijing time - 04 Feb 2026Launch scheduleNebula-1 planned to fly in H1 2026 from Dongfang Spaceport with a sea-recovery test
An industry round-up reported that Nebula-1, Hyperbola-3 and Yuanxingzhe-1 all planned to test sea recovery on their maiden flights, with Nebula-1 targeting H1 2026 from Dongfang Spaceport.
Source: Jiemian · originally published 04 Feb 2026, 09:54 Beijing time - 20 Jan 2026Launch scheduleDeep Blue says Nebula-1 maiden flight planned around Chinese New Year
The company planned the maiden flight around Chinese New Year 2026 with a recovery attempt; the rocket is about 30.2 m tall with about 180 t of sea-level thrust and about 2 t to LEO.
Source: Sina Finance · originally published 20 Jan 2026, 17:32 Beijing time - 03 Nov 2025DevelopmentNebula-1 nine-engine first-stage cluster test succeeds
Nine Thunder-R kerolox engines fired together at the Mashan test site in Jinan, each producing about 20 t of sea-level thrust with more than three restarts; the company said the maiden flight had entered its countdown phase.
Source: Sina Tech · originally published 03 Nov 2025, 11:07 Beijing time - 01 Oct 2025DevelopmentNebula-1 second-stage vacuum Thunder-R completes 308-second test
In September 2025 the vacuum Thunder-R for the second stage completed a 308-second full-envelope test at 21.1 t thrust, validating start-up, shutdown and throttling; the company's earlier mid-2025 maiden-flight target had already slipped. (Publish time taken from date; event occurred in September 2025.)
Source: China in Space · originally published 01 Oct 2025