A small but powerful Chinese rocket capable of sending payloads into space at competitive prices delivered nine satellites into orbit on Saturday, Reuters reports, citing Chinese state media, indicating that this year could be another busy year for Chinese commercial launches, UNN writes.
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The Jielong-3 rocket was launched from a floating barge off the coast of Yangjiang in Guangdong province in the south of the country. This was the third launch of a rocket developed by China Rocket Co, the commercial arm of the state-owned launch vehicle manufacturer, since December 2022.
Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for the development of strategic industries, including the commercial space sector, which is considered key to creating constellations of satellites for communications, remote sensing and navigation.
Also on Saturday, Chinese automaker Geely Holding Group broke new ground by launching 11 satellites to improve its ability to provide more accurate navigation for autonomous vehicles.
The Jielong-3 rocket can launch a payload weighing 1,500 kg into a sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 500 km. Earlier, China Rocket Co. said the rocket would be able to carry more than 20 satellites at a launch cost of less than $10,000 per kg, a globally competitive price for light payload rockets.
Addendum
The cost is similar to the launches of other Chinese light-capacity rockets, including the Long March 11, but the size of their payloads is much smaller.
Developed by CAS Space, a commercial division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences headquartered in Guangzhou, the Lijian-1 rocket can also send a 1,500 kg payload into a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit.
Other commercial companies in China's vehicle launch sector include Galactic Energy, whose Ceres-1 rocket made its debut flight in November 2020. Ceres-1 is capable of delivering a 300 kg payload to a 500 km high sun-synchronous orbit. Beijing-based Galactic Energy has made at least seven Ceres-1 launches in 2023, up from four in 2020-2022.
The competition also includes Landspace, whose launch of Zhuque-2 in 2023 marked the world's first successful delivery of a payload using a rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane and a breakthrough in China's use of low-cost liquid fuels.
As for large rockets, in January, Orienspace launched Gravity-1 from a ship off the coast of Shandong province in the east of the country. The rocket is capable of launching a payload weighing up to 6,500 kg into low Earth orbit, making it the most powerful launch vehicle developed by a private Chinese company.
A low-capacity rocket carries a payload of up to 2,000 kg, a medium-capacity rocket carries a payload of up to 20,000 kg, and heavy rockets can easily carry more than 20,000 kg.
For comparison, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy can lift up to 64,000 kg into orbit.