Watch out SpaceX: China’s space start up industry takes flight

[Nan Yang]

Watch out SpaceX: China’s space start up industry takes flight







[URL=http://s1054.photobucket.com/user/themiddlepath1/media/Rockets/shenzhen_yu_long_2_zpsmclzttvk.png.html][/URL]

(From Popular Science)

Private Chinese companies could launch microsatellites one day, taikonauts

By Jeffrey Lin and P.W. Singer

While SpaceX is leading the charge of private space companies in the United States, a new generation of Chinese start ups are entering the space race, backed by universities and hedge funds. The key difference is that these firms are starting small, focusing mostly on the goal of launching microsatellites.

First up is Onespace, founded in June 2015, with support from the National Defense Science and Industry Bureau. Their flagship rocket is a 59 ton space launch vehicle with a launch date of 2018. It is designed to place a 500kg payload in low Earth orbit. Onespace hopes to launch microsatellites at a cost of 100,000 yuan per kilogram (or $6,500 per pound). They plan on displaying a rocket model in the Zhuhai 2016 Airshow, and completing a prototype by late 2017. Onespace also has ambitions eventually to build a manned space capsule.

Landspace Technology is founded by alumni from the storied Tsinghua University. Their ultimate goal is to build a medium space launch vehicle for manned and unmanned use. Their target markets are microsatellite launches for European and Southeast Asian countries. Landspace Technology also offers a wide range of related space services, including insurance, satellite design support, and supply chain management.

Shenzhen Yu Long Aerospace Science and Technology is another Chinese space start up. It has performed work with an array of sounding rockets that reach into suborbital height (a rocket with 165 kg payload reached an altitude of 35 km in January 2016). Shenzhen Yu Long has announced its hopes to fly a liquid-fueled rocket in 2020, and a manned launch in 2025.

These various firms point a new ambition in the Chinese space industry, one that was recently given official sanction by praise in state media. Yet, they've certainly got their work cut out for them; in addition to the technical challenges ahead, they'll have to compete with state-owned Long March rockets and foreign counterparts to secure orders.

http://www.popsci.com/watch-out-spacex-chinas-space-start-up-industry-takes-flight

 

[C130]

59 tonne rocket 500kg payload watch out spaceX what

let me know when they scale this up to 500 tonnes and can re-use the first stage

 

[BoQ77]

Great effort !!!
Any govt aid to this start up ? they should

 

[Beidou2020]

China need to allow private space firms to explore space.

 

[+4vsgorillas-Apebane]

59 tonne rocket 500kg payload watch out spaceX what

let me know when they scale this up to 500 tonnes and can re-use the first stage

A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.

You have to start somewhere.

 

[qwerrty]

watch out virgin galactic


---
Sub-orbital space tourism
亚轨道太空旅游
发布时间：2016-04-23 信息来源 :



打 造“亚轨道重复使用运载器+游客/载荷/试验平台”的航天系统，经过适应性改进可以满足载人飞行的技术条件，根据客户需求设计特殊的飞行模式和机动剖面， 提供5~10min亚轨道失重飞行和太空观光的特殊体验，满足不同层面用户对低成本太空旅游飞行体验需求，从而占领国内的亚轨道商业太空旅游市场。

该项目主要面向亚轨道太空旅游市场，同时可满足亚轨道科学试验、高精度对地观测、应急遥感通信、应急响应载荷投送等商业需求。该项目的可带动太空旅游产业基地、广告传媒、飞行训练、医学保障、救生装备、安全担保等一系列相关行业和产量的快速发展。

http://www.calt.com/n623/n624/n626/c4343/content.html

 

[anon45]

So basically their competition is India?

 

[Nan Yang]

59 tonne rocket 500kg payload watch out spaceX what

let me know when they scale this up to 500 tonnes and can re-use the first stage

China testing own reusable rocket technologies

China is working on its own reusable rocket technologies, a source close to the research told Xinhua Thursday.

Chinese experts have already built a prototype model to test theories on the reusable rocket booster's landing subsystems. They have completed "experimental verifications" using "multiple parachutes" supposedly attached to the booster, a source with China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technologies (CALT), developer of China's Long March rocket series, said.

"The experiment has laid solid foundation for the realization of reusable rockets in the country," the source said.

The remarks came weeks after the reusable main-stage booster of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket made a historic landing at sea earlier this month.

Ma Zhibin, deputy director of CALT's aerospace department also confirmed to Xinhua Thursday in a separate interview that Chinese scientists are working on reusable rockets, although the technologies they employ may differ from those of SpaceX.

"There is of course more than one way to do this ... I believe we could see some serious results during the 13th Five-Year Plan period," he said, referring to the five years between 2016 and 2020.

Still, Ma said it could take a considerably longer time before reusable launch vehicles could replace the current expendable rockets for good.

"This is not a one-day job, making rockets retrievable and reusable," agreed rocket scientist Han Houjian, a designer of the Long March-1 rocket which carried China's first satellite Dongfanghong-1 into space in 1970.

"Even (SpaceX founder Elon) Musk admitted that they had to reduce the payload of Falcon-9 to make it (the sea landing) happen," he said.

"The current expendable rockets will continue to serve as our main launch vehicles to space for now," he said.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_testing_own_reusable_rocket_technologies_999.html

 

[anon45]

China testing own reusable rocket technologies

China is working on its own reusable rocket technologies, a source close to the research told Xinhua Thursday.

Chinese experts have already built a prototype model to test theories on the reusable rocket booster's landing subsystems. They have completed "experimental verifications" using "multiple parachutes" supposedly attached to the booster, a source with China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technologies (CALT), developer of China's Long March rocket series, said.

"The experiment has laid solid foundation for the realization of reusable rockets in the country," the source said.

The remarks came weeks after the reusable main-stage booster of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket made a historic landing at sea earlier this month.

Ma Zhibin, deputy director of CALT's aerospace department also confirmed to Xinhua Thursday in a separate interview that Chinese scientists are working on reusable rockets, although the technologies they employ may differ from those of SpaceX.

"There is of course more than one way to do this ... I believe we could see some serious results during the 13th Five-Year Plan period," he said, referring to the five years between 2016 and 2020.

Still, Ma said it could take a considerably longer time before reusable launch vehicles could replace the current expendable rockets for good.

"This is not a one-day job, making rockets retrievable and reusable," agreed rocket scientist Han Houjian, a designer of the Long March-1 rocket which carried China's first satellite Dongfanghong-1 into space in 1970.

"Even (SpaceX founder Elon) Musk admitted that they had to reduce the payload of Falcon-9 to make it (the sea landing) happen," he said.

"The current expendable rockets will continue to serve as our main launch vehicles to space for now," he said.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/China_testing_own_reusable_rocket_technologies_999.html

SpaceX also initially tested reusability with Parachutes, and came to the conclusion that a powered landing was the best way. I wonder if China will reach a different conclusion.