Heart Capital Portfolio Companies Microsat and LandSpace Successfully Complete Breakthrough Launches and Test Missions | Heart Capital News

As January 2024 draws to a close, Heart Capital has been receiving a steady stream of good news from the skies. Two of its portfolio companies in China's space sector — Micro-Nano Starry Sky and LandSpace — have both achieved major milestones in recent days.

At 12:03 PM on January 23, five satellites developed by Micro-Nano Starry Sky — Taijing-2 02 (Xingditong-1), Taijing-2 04 (Mofulong), Taijing-1 03, Taijing-3 02, and Taijing-4 03 — were successfully launched aboard CAS Space's Lijian-1 Y3 carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and smoothly entered their designated orbits. The mission was a complete success.

At 4:00 PM on January 19, LandSpace's self-developed Zhuque-3 VTVL-1 reusable vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) recovery test rocket (hereinafter referred to as the "VTVL-1 test vehicle") lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The test flight lasted approximately 60 seconds, reaching an altitude of about 350 meters. The landing position accuracy was approximately 2.4 meters, landing velocity about 0.75 m/s, landing attitude angle about 0.14°, and roll angle about 4.4°. The rocket landed smoothly, hit its target precisely, and remained in excellent condition — the test mission was a complete success!

Heart Capital has been investing in the aerospace sector for many years. In 2023 alone, it witnessed remarkable achievements from Micro-Nano Starry Sky, a domestic leader in high-end satellite R&D and manufacturing, and LandSpace, a leading operator focused on liquid oxygen-methane launch vehicle technology. Now, with both companies delivering consecutive mission successes, the Heart Capital team extends its sincere congratulations.

Heart Capital has always believed in the vast potential of commercial space. In an article titled Putting Some People Into the Universe, Sending Others to the Sky published by 36Kr's in-depth media outlet Dark Currents Waves, Yan Han, founding partner of Heart Capital, noted: "Today, the space industry is gradually moving toward market-oriented operations, giving numerous startups the opportunity to participate in different segments of the value chain. The competition for low and medium Earth orbit space and frequency bands, in particular, will determine who can seize the initiative and secure more orbital resources. Whether from a cost or efficiency perspective, commercialization is the only viable path."

The Heart Capital team puts these convictions into practice through its investments in commercial space projects, and continues to be bullish on electrification and intelligentization opportunities including aerospace — with the earnest goal of doing China's tech investment right.

Micro-Nano Starry Sky's "one rocket, five satellites" mission represents satellites from its third batch of R&D and production completed in 2023, and its first successful satellite development and launch of 2024. This string of successes marks the company's steadily maturing technical capabilities and reliability in commercial satellite manufacturing. From a business development standpoint, it will also accelerate the pace of batch satellite production and the subsequent large-scale deployment of its high-resolution remote sensing constellation.

The LandSpace VTVL-1 test vehicle served as the first flight test platform to validate the vertical return key technologies for the Zhuque-3 (ZQ-3) large liquid oxygen-methane reusable launch vehicle's first stage. The vehicle has a diameter of 3.35 meters, length of 18.3 meters, and landing leg span of 11.6 meters. It uses a single 80-ton-class Tianque-12 (TQ-12) improved liquid oxygen-methane engine based on continuous orbital flight verification, featuring orthogonal dual-gimbal capability, 45%-110% throttle range, and multiple ignition capability. The VTVL-1 test vehicle for this flight had a liftoff mass of approximately 50.3 tons, with a maximum liftoff mass of 68 tons — currently the largest VTVL test vehicle by liftoff mass in China.

This mission validated the overall correctness of LandSpace's reusable liquid oxygen-methane rocket first-stage vertical recovery scheme; the correctness of the wide-range variable thrust liquid oxygen-methane propulsion system; the matching characteristics between the rocket control system and engine throttle response; the correctness of the landing phase guidance and control scheme; the performance of the soft-landing buffer mechanism; and the correctness of reusable rocket testing, launch, recovery, and post-processing procedures. The mission successfully obtained core test data for Zhuque-3's reusable liquid oxygen-methane rocket key technologies.

Founded in 2022, Heart Capital is an early-stage venture capital fund focused on technology and digitalization in China. The Heart Capital team is led by Yan Han, formerly a founding partner at Lightspeed China, alongside core investors, a CFO, and seasoned investors from industry backgrounds. The team's past investments include Series A investments in Xpeng Motors (NYSE: XPEV, 09868.HK), Full Truck Alliance (NYSE: YMM), as well as FinVolution (NYSE: FINV), RoboSense (02948.HK), Baichuan, Manman Lengyun, Fan Deng Reading, World Logistics, Micro-Nano Starry Sky, LandSpace, Lanhu, Starfield, and others.

Rooted in China with a global outlook, Heart Capital is committed to finding true value in non-consensus. The firm respects the value of "people" and champions the potential of the "heart," looking forward to accompanying more young Chinese entrepreneurs in strengthening China and going global.