Chinese startup Spark Space has tested its Lieyan-2 electric-pump-fed engine and raised fresh funding as it pushes toward a launcher it says could become the world’s largest of its kind. The engine fired on kerosene and liquid oxygen in an integrated system test, advancing a propulsion architecture that replaces turbopumps with electric motors and batteries.
The company is building a larger expendable vehicle around the engine, with multi-engine clustering planned for the first stage and a vacuum variant for the upper stage. The new financing extends a development campaign that has already crossed the hardware-validation stage and now moves into vehicle-scale integration.
That puts Spark Space closer to a commercial flight demonstrator and deeper into China’s private launch race.