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HELSINKI – China’s Landspace startup successfully sent a satellite into orbit for the first time on Friday and unveiled details of a new steel rocket.
The Zhuque-2 methane-liquid oxygen rocket lifted off at 6:39 pm Eastern (2339 UTC) December 8 from the company’s launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. Land availability confirmed start successfully within an hour of uploading.
It was on board the Honghu, Honghu-2 and Tianyi-33 satellites. The latter was developed by Spacety, a Chinese commercial satellite company that was approved earlier this year by the US Treasury Department. Four objects associated with the launch have been classified by US Space Force space domain awareness in a 433 to 461-kilometer orbit at 97.3 degrees.
The Zhuque-2 (“Vermillion Bird-2”) is 49.5 meters long, with a width of 3.35m and a take-off weight of 220 tons. The first stage is powered by Tianque 80-ton-thrust methane-liquid oxygen engines.
It can carry 1,500 kilograms in a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). An improved version will be able to lift 4,000 kg. The next Zhuque-2 will use an improved second engine.
The launch was the first time Landspace had sent a satellite into orbit. The first flight of the rocket, which took place in December 2022, ended in failure and the loss of an unspecified number of satellites. The second, in July this year, was successful. There was no power load.
Landspace is now looking to increase production and launch cadence. It is planned to launch three Zhuque-2 rockets in 2024, six in 2025, and 12 in 2026, accordingly to Zhejiang Daily, citing the company’s vice president. The company also has new plans in the works.
Steel Zhuque-3
Landspace used the successful launch to reveal more detailed plans for the Zhuque-3 steel. The plan for the rocket was first announced last month.
The two-stage Zhuque-3 will be 4.5 meters in diameter and have an overall length of 76.6 meters. Its takeoff weight will be about 660 tons and it will be powered by nine Tianque-12B engines. The LEO’s payload capacity will be 21,000 kg when deployed. It will carry 18,300 kg when it recovers the first level down, or 12,500 kg when it returns to the launch site.
The company plans a 100-meter-level hop test at the end of the year, China Youth Network reported. A final assembly and first flight of the Zhuque-3 is expected in 2025. Each Zhuque-3 can be reused 20 times.
The CEO of Landspace, Zhang Changwu, told the Chinese media that the company is working on a 200-ton cycle engine, to be ready in 2028. That engine will power a two-wheeler with a diameter of 10 meters. .
A paper written by a Landspace rocket engine designer earlier this year announced that Landspace is working on a 200-ton full-thrust gas-fired-cycle methane engine. China’s state-owned aerospace company, CASC, is also developing a Raptor-like engine to power its large-scale interplanetary plans.
The paper’s author, Zhang Xiaoping, left a role under CASC in 2018 to join Landspace, wild debate on the salary and retention of talent in the Chinese state-owned space industry as it begins to develop business plans in China.
Chinese business success
Landspace is one of China’s first industrial companies. It was established in 2015 after the Chinese government opened the space sector to private capital in late 2014. The development is seen as a response to industrial development in the US
The year 2023 is an exciting year for business promoters. Galactic Energy, iSpace, Landspace, Space Pioneer and state-owned companies CAS Space and Expace have all reached the orbit this year, accounting for 16 of the 58 launches in China’s orbit.
This number includes the first commercial liquid oxygen launch, first with Space Pioneer’s kerosene-liquid oxygen Tianlong-2 and then with the methalox Zhuque-2.
Another new member, Orienspace, is preparing for its first launch in mid-December. The Gravity-1 is a massive 6.5-ton LEO rocket that launches from the surface of the ocean.