The fifth set of STAR Market standards is further refined, the first stock among the "Seven Sons Competing for the Throne" in commercial aerospace.

The listing standards for commercial rockets are becoming clearer.

On December 26, the Shanghai Stock Exchange released the "Guideline No. 9 on Application of Issuance and Listing Review Rules—Application of the Fifth SET of STAR Market Listing Standards for Commercial Rocket Enterprises" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guideline"), which provides more detailed regulations on applying the fifth set of STAR Market listing standards for commercial rocket enterprises.

The fifth set of listing standards mainly requires "market value + phased achievements" and does not set performance thresholds for companies, so how phased achievements are defined is key.

This guideline clearly stipulates that phased achievements under the fifth STAR Market listing standards are defined as: "At the time of application, having successfully launched a medium or large reusable launch vehicle, with its payload entering orbit for the first time."

This means that after this, commercial aerospace companies' reusable rockets only need to reach orbit to be eligible for submitting an IPO application to the STAR Market, and currently the company that is progressing fastest with its IPO is Landspace Technology Corporation (hereinafter referred to as "Landspace").

On December 23, CICC submitted a report to the Beijing Securities Regulatory Bureau stating that it had completed IPO coaching for Landspace.

Before this, Landspace had just completed the launch of its reusable rocket.

On December 3, Landspace's Zhuque-3 reusable launch vehicle was successfully launched and reached orbit; this was China's first attempt at booster recovery for a launch vehicle.

However, Zhuque-3 failed to achieve recovery due to an anomaly with the engine's final ignition.

"From 40 kilometers above ground down to the last 3 kilometers, the performance was perfect. At 3 kilometers, we needed to ignite for landing, like slamming the brakes, so that when the altitude reaches 0, the velocity is also 0. But we missed that last brake, so the rocket crashed, just 40 meters short of a 'perfect' result," said Landspace's general manager Dai Zheng.

Even so, Zhuque-3 has still provided valuable experience for the industry.

With the further clarification of commercial aerospace listing standards in this guideline, Landspace is expected to become the first commercial aerospace company to hit the fifth set of STAR Market listing standards.

According to incomplete statistics from Xinfeng, in addition to Landspace, at least six other commercial aerospace companies—including Galactic Energy, iSpace, Tianbing Tech, Expace, CAS Space, and Astrobotic—have entered the IPO coaching period.

For these companies to apply for the STAR Market using the fifth set of listing standards, they must at least achieve orbital entry with a reusable rocket.

Based on publicly available information aggregated by Xinfeng, the first flight of reusable rockets from these companies is generally expected to take place in 2026. For example, Galactic Energy's Zeus-2 is planned for a first flight in 2026, and iSpace's Hyperbola-3 is expected to have its maiden launch in the first half of 2026.

As the number of launches increases, China's goal for recovering reusable rockets draws ever closer.

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