Alibaba tested delivery by rocket, arriving within 1 hour

Specifically, a post on WeChat on March 31 revealed that rocket manufacturer Space Epoch is joining hands with Alibaba's online shopping platform Taobao to build reusable rockets that can land at sea. . This rocket is used for international express delivery within one hour. The project is in the initial testing phase, Space Epoch said

Alibaba quickly confirmed this information. The Chinese company said that many great inventions were once considered crazy ideas, so this rocket delivery service is no exception.

Space Epoch's article said the rocket named XZY-1 will have a cargo capacity of 120 cubic meters and be able to carry up to 10 tons of cargo, including bulky items such as cars or small trucks. But the company also admitted that 'this goal is very difficult to achieve in a short time'. 'This will be a great and meaningful experiment in the long run,' Space Epoch affirmed.

Founded in 2019, Space Epoch has a mission to utilize space resources in a "safe, effective and sustainable" way. Startup develops recyclable rockets to meet civil flight needs. The startup has completed three rounds of funding with more than 300 million yuan ($41.5 million).

Over the years, Space Epoch has developed reusable rockets to deliver cargo into low Earth orbit, Reuters reported. The company's rockets are 64 m long and can carry a load of up to 6.5 tons at an altitude of 1,100 km. The company estimates one rocket can be used up to 20 times.

In fact, the concept of transporting goods by rocket is not completely new. The US Air Force has discussed with SpaceX to quickly transport global goods using the company's Starship rocket from 2020.

But Space Epoch and Alibaba's ambitions go beyond express delivery, as the company plans to develop larger rockets to launch large payloads into orbit. The company aims to use methane engines from Chinese start-up Jiuzhou Yunjian.

According to SCMP , in the context of fierce competition both domestically and internationally, Alibaba has been improving its logistics services. In March, the company expanded its '5-day delivery' service to the US, allowing buyers on e-commerce platform AliExpress to receive orders in less than a week. The delivery process is carried out by Cainiao Network - a smart logistics company under Alibaba Group.

Cainiao launched its five-day delivery service last year, then expanded its coverage to markets including Germany, France, Portugal, Saudi Arabia and Mexico.

Last week, Cainiao said it would double year-end bonuses for employees in the next fiscal year. The move is expected to help boost employee morale, after parent company Alibaba scrapped the shipping unit's initial public offering (IPO) plan.

Previously, President Xi Jinping called for the expansion of strategic industries including the commercial space sector. This is considered the key to building groups of satellites for communications, remote sensing and navigation.

In 2023, China conducted 17 commercial rocket launches with one failure. The achievement contributed to setting a new record of 67 rocket launches into orbit for the country of billions of people. That's up from 10 commercial rocket launches in 2022, of which two failed.

Isabella Humphrey

Update 02 April 2024