NEW DELHI: A Chinese company achieved a major milestone by becoming the first in the world to launch satellites with rockets fuelled by methane and liquid oxygen on Saturday, beating Western rivals including Elon Musk’s SpaceX, SCMP reported.
The Zhuque 2 Y-3, created by the private aerospace company LandSpace in Beijing, took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at 7:39 am, Saturday.
Three satellites sent by the rocket into the planned orbit were Honghu, Honghu 2, and TY-33.
LandSpace said the launch “pioneered a new stage for the commercialisation of launching liquid-powered rockets in China” and proved the technology’s reliability and stability.
“We will continuously create highly reliable, cost-effective, and high-capacity commercial launch rocket products,” the company said.
“The key to achieving true industrialisation and commercialisation of liquid rockets is to realise low-cost, large-scale manufacturing and delivery of rockets and ensure continuous and stable launch success.”
The company announced that the Honghu and TY-33 satellites, developed by the Chinese start-up Spacety, along with the Honghu 2 satellite built by the start-up Hongqing Technology, were placed into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 460 kilometers (285 miles).
The rocket measured 49.5 meters (162 feet) in length, had a diameter of 3.35 meters, and weighed 220 tonnes at lift-off, excluding the payloads.
LandSpace reportedly plans to launch three more to double the number annually to reach 12 launches in 2026.
In April, Beijing’s Space Pioneer achieved a global milestone by launching the Tianlong 2, utilizing kerosene derived from coal.
Following an initial unsuccessful attempt in December 2022, LandSpace made a renewed effort in July, successfully launching a methane-liquid oxygen rocket and becoming the first in the world to do so.
The Zhuque 2 Y-3, created by the private aerospace company LandSpace in Beijing, took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China at 7:39 am, Saturday.
Three satellites sent by the rocket into the planned orbit were Honghu, Honghu 2, and TY-33.
LandSpace said the launch “pioneered a new stage for the commercialisation of launching liquid-powered rockets in China” and proved the technology’s reliability and stability.
“We will continuously create highly reliable, cost-effective, and high-capacity commercial launch rocket products,” the company said.
“The key to achieving true industrialisation and commercialisation of liquid rockets is to realise low-cost, large-scale manufacturing and delivery of rockets and ensure continuous and stable launch success.”
The company announced that the Honghu and TY-33 satellites, developed by the Chinese start-up Spacety, along with the Honghu 2 satellite built by the start-up Hongqing Technology, were placed into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 460 kilometers (285 miles).
The rocket measured 49.5 meters (162 feet) in length, had a diameter of 3.35 meters, and weighed 220 tonnes at lift-off, excluding the payloads.
LandSpace reportedly plans to launch three more to double the number annually to reach 12 launches in 2026.
In April, Beijing’s Space Pioneer achieved a global milestone by launching the Tianlong 2, utilizing kerosene derived from coal.
Following an initial unsuccessful attempt in December 2022, LandSpace made a renewed effort in July, successfully launching a methane-liquid oxygen rocket and becoming the first in the world to do so.
According to US space agency Nasa, methane is also more stable and denser than liquid hydrogen, the most common rocket fuel, allowing it to be stored at “more manageable temperatures” and enabling the use of smaller tanks.
Two other liquid oxygen methane rockets made in the US, SpaceX’s Starship and Relativity Space’s Terran 1 faced failures in their attempts to reach orbit earlier this year.