Chinese startup Spark Space tests engine, raises funds for electric-pump rocket

spacenews.com Jun 18, 2026

Chinese startup Spark Space tests engine, raises funds for electric-pump rocket

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Jun 18, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

Chinese startup Spark Space has secured funding for its electric-pump-fed rocket, the Jinhua-1, following successful engine tests. The rocket is set to debut in 2027 and will be powered by nine Lieyan-2 engines, giving it a liftoff thrust of 90 tons. The company has raised nearly 100 million yuan in a Pre-A round and tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A+ funding, with plans to use the funds to develop the rocket. The Jinhua-1 has a payload capacity of 1,500 kilograms to low Earth orbit and 1,000 kg to sun-synchronous orbit. Spark Space aims to provide a low-cost option for satellite constellation deployment.

💡 Why It Matters

· Spark Space's electric-pump-fed rocket could disrupt the small launch market with its high payload capacity and potential for cost savings.
· Its ability to produce 10 tons of thrust per engine surpasses that of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket, making it a significant player in the industry.

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Swift reboost mission ready for launch

NASA's Link spacecraft, developed by Katalyst Space Technologies, is set to launch on June 27 to raise the orbit of the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory, a gamma-ray observatory in low Earth orbit. The mission, which has been developed in under a year, aims to prevent the Swift Observatory from reentering Earth's atmosphere by late 2024. NASA selected Katalyst in September 2023 to develop Link under a $30 million contract, with the agency emphasizing the need for a swift development timeline to meet the mission requirements.

💡 The success of this mission highlights the agency's ability to rapidly develop and execute complex space missions, showcasing its capacity for bureaucratic agility in the face of pressing deadlines.

space.com · Jun 18

‘It’s quite a bit more than we expected’: Satellite reveals immense scale…

An experimental satellite, Pulsar-0, has mapped the scale of GPS jamming across Europe and the Middle East from space for the first time. The data revealed that satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO) suffer from GPS signal disruption, contradicting previous assumptions that they were immune to jamming. The findings indicate that LEO satellites may not always be able to rely on GPS signals for navigation and timing, posing a challenge for their operations. The data was collected by Pulsar-0, the first satellite of the Pulsar navigation constellation developed by Xona Space Systems.

💡 The widespread GPS jamming in Europe and the Middle East raises concerns about the reliability of navigation and timing signals for satellites in low Earth orbit, which could compromise the safety and effectiveness of various operations, including imaging and finance operations.

spacenews.com · Jun 18

What the satellite servicing economy can borrow from carbon credits

The Federal Communications Commission has authorized a large number of satellites for launch, including 15,000 Starlink Gen2 satellites and 88,000 orbital data center satellites. However, there is no framework for disclosing or offsetting the environmental consequences of satellite reentries, which can damage the ozone layer. Recent research suggests that cumulative stratospheric injection of satellite-derived contaminants can weaken the polar vortex and cause temperature anomalies. The satellite servicing economy could benefit from a policy dictating orbital injection quotas and a global "budget" of deorbiting.

💡 A carbon-trading system could be adapted to create an orbital chemistry credits system, where operators earn credits for extending satellite service life and avoiding reentries, thereby reducing atmospheric impact and launch costs. This approach could incentivize the development of a satellite servicing economy while protecting the environment.

tekedia.com · Jun 18

Europe’s Space Ambitions Receive a Boost from OBH’s Investment Strategy

German space technology group OBH has announced plans to issue new shares to raise capital for future investments, reflecting the opportunities and challenges facing Europe's growing space industry. The move aims to secure fresh capital for research and development, acquisitions, infrastructure expansion, and the commercialization of new technologies. Existing shareholders may experience some dilution of their ownership stakes, but management argues that the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term impact. The global space sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by advances in satellite communications, Earth observation systems, and defense applications.

💡 European companies like OBH must invest aggressively to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving global market, where major players in the US and Asia have fueled rapid technological advancement through significant public and private investments.

techcrunch.com · Jun 18

NASA picks Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for Mars mission, setting up a…

NASA has hired Relativity Space, a rocket maker acquired by Eric Schmidt, to build a spacecraft for a Mars mission. The spacecraft, dubbed Aeolus, will carry four instruments to measure and image Mars from orbit, providing daily global views of dust, winds, and temperature. The mission is set to launch in 2028, with Relativity responsible for designing and building the spacecraft and rocket. The partnership allows NASA to stretch its budget further, while Relativity takes on development costs. The mission aims to make it safer for landers and astronauts to visit Mars' surface. Relativity's selection marks a significant step for the company, which has faced challenges in the past.

💡 Relativity's potential success could give Eric Schmidt an edge over Elon Musk in the private space race. A successful launch would make Relativity the first private company to reach Mars, beating SpaceX to the milestone.

techtimes.com · Jun 18

Satellite AI Inference Clears Orbit: Gemma 3 Ran Aboard YAM-9 in April

Loft Orbital's YAM-9 spacecraft successfully demonstrated the first publicly disclosed execution of a vision-language model in orbit. Aboard the spacecraft, Google DeepMind's Gemma 3 performed natural language queries, classified Earth imagery, and produced plain-English summaries without transmitting raw pixels to the ground. This achievement marks a significant shift in the value layer of Earth observation, moving from ground-based processing to onboard inference capabilities. The model, running on an Nvidia Jetson Orin AGX graphics processing unit, utilized a software harness developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to fit within the spacecraft's memory budget and processing constraints.

💡 This breakthrough enables Earth observation satellites to operate more autonomously, reducing reliance on ground-based processing and potentially leading to faster and more efficient analysis of satellite imagery.