At 17:05:05 p.m. on Feb. 5, 2021, OneSpace’s new intelligent suborbital rocket OS-X6B and “Chongqing Liangjiang Star” was launched from a northwest launch site under the remote command of the company’s Chongqing Liangjiang Measurement and Control Command Center.
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by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Galactic Energy, which became the second private Chinese launch provider to orbit a satellite on Saturday, has announced that it completed a Series A financing round of 200 million yuan ($30.25 million) in September.
In a press release, Galactic Energy said the funding will be used to manufacture and perform upgrades on the solid-fuel Ceres-1 small-satellite booster that flew last week. The funding will also allow the company to continue research and development on its larger liquid-fuel Pallas-1 (Zhishen-1) booster.
(more…)by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Chinese microsat launch provider Galactic Energy conducted the maiden flight of its new Ceres-1 booster on Saturday, placing the Tianqi-11 satellite into orbit for the Apocalypse Internet of Things (IoT) constellation.
(more…)by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
iSpace, aka, Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., has become the first private Chinese company to launch payloads into orbit.
The company launched its four-stage Hypobola-1 rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert on Thursday afternoon local time.
iSpace reported the rocket deployed the CAS-7B amateur radio satellite and a technology verification satellite for China Central Television. Three additional payloads remained attached to the upper stage as planned.
(more…)Full launch video by a spectator. ℹ：https://t.co/ImNDaEVDFo pic.twitter.com/jhUvslcHqd — LaunchStuff (@LaunchStuff) March 27, 2019 This was the first orbital launch attempt by the Chinese commercial company OneSpace. The four-stage, solid-fuel OS-M booster apparently failed after first stage separation. The launch was conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. CEO Shu Chang, whose company has successfully launched two suborbital OS-X boosters, vowed to carry on. “We will endeavor to launch another […]
I am very pleased to say that the OS-M launch vehicle has completed assembly rehearsal and is currently in the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center for final preparations. Thanks to all who’ve worked so hard on it!???????? Check out “OS-M assembly rehearsal” video!!???? pic.twitter.com/AvE6uUGpaz — OneSpace (@OneSpace01) March 12, 2019 Editor’s Note: OneSpace says their attempt to launch the OS-M orbital booster is scheduled for Wednesday, March 27. If successful, it […]
Long March 5 on the launch pad. (Credit: China National Space Administration)
After a record 39 launches in 2018, China is planning to launch over 50 satellites aboard more than 30 launch vehicles this year, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has announced.
The manifest includes the return to flight of China’s largest launch vehicle, Long March 5, after a two-year stand down. The booster, which can lift 14 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO), failed during its second flight on July 2, 2017 after a successful maiden flight eight months earlier.
SpaceShipTwo fires its hybrid engine. (Credit: Kenneth Brown)
Part 2 of 2
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
There were 15 flight tests of eight suborbital boosters in 2018, including six flights of two vehicles — Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and Blue Origin’s New Shepard — that are designed to carry passengers on space tourism rides.
The race to provide launch services to the booming small satellite industry also resulted in nine flight tests of six more conventional boosters to test technologies for orbital systems. Two of the boosters tested are designed to serve the suborbital market as well.
A pair of Chinese startups took advantage of a loosening of government restrictions on launch providers to fly their rockets two times apiece. There was also suborbital flight tests of American, Japanese and South Korean rockets.
Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo’s first flight above 50 miles on Dec. 13, 2018. (Credit: Virgin Galactic)
Part 1 of 2
by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Throughout the Space Age, suborbital flight has been the least exciting segment of the launch market. Operating in the shadow of their much larger orbital cousins, sounding rockets carrying scientific instruments, microgravity experiments and technology demonstrations have flown to the fringes of space with little fanfare or media attention.
The suborbital sector has become much more dynamic in recent years now that billionaires have started spending money in it. Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic both made significant progress last year in testing New Shepard and SpaceShipTwo, respectively. Their achievements have raised the real possibility of suborbital space tourism flights in 2019. (I know. Promises, promises…. But, this year they might finally really do it. I think.)
Truly god view, Jilin-1 video satellite shot @OneSpace01 OS-X1 suborbital rocket’s launch at JSLC this noon. pic.twitter.com/KposRHZc4D — dafeng cao (@dafengcao) September 7, 2018 OneSpace launched the OS-X1 suborbital rocket on Friday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in another step toward orbital flights for the Chinese commercial launch company, according to media reports. Gbtimes reports the solid-fuel Chongqing Liangjiang Star booster reached an altitude of about 35 kilometer during […]
