Alibaba's reusable rockets: just Chinese whispers?

Photo: Minipig5188 | Dreamstime.com

Given the season, this may have been an ‘April fool’. But, considering it has been reported across Chinese media – China having banned April Fools’ Day in 2016 – and picked up by Reuters on 31 March, it seems it may have some truth in it: Alibaba is experimenting with reusable rockets for its delivery services.

According to the Reuters report (published at 9am GMT on Sunday, just in case it could have been April Fools’ Day somewhere in the world), the Chinese e-commerce behemoth’s online platform, Taobao, has been working with Chinese rocket-maker Space Epoch to develop reusable rockets for express deliveries, with the aim of reaching any part of the world “in an hour”.

Details are patchy, the present state of play is very much one of “early trial stages”, and, we’re still not entirely sure it isn’t a prank. Do you know?