Technological advancement stimulates the development of China's commercial space industry

Last weekend, at 5:07 pm on December 10, 2023, China's SQX-2Y commercial reusable rocket completed its second test flight at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, marking the first reuse of a rocket story in China. The rocket, powered by a liquid oxygen and methane engine, was developed by Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., better known as iSpace. The same rocket also completed a vertical takeoff and landing test on November 2. As it is a reusable rocket, the ballistic parameters such as flight height and landing point of each mission will be different according to different launch requirements. To this end, SQX-2Y has carried out purposeful design in the control algorithm and software architecture to achieve flight. Without changing the technical state of the flight software, ballistic parameters such as flight altitude and landing point can be easily adjusted by simply changing the flight elements, ensuring the reliability of the software system. The launch site used for the two flights of this rocket is the first simple launch site system in China that integrates takeoff and landing. It does not rely on large fixed structures on the ground. Ground filling and gas supply equipment and launch support equipment have the ability to be flexibly assembled and repositioned and at the same time unmanned before launch, taking gas and liquid preparation into account before launch and treatment needs after recovery. For the first time, the mobile recovery area's intelligent wireless test and launch system, propellant safety loss and gas and liquid recovery and processing systems were used to complete the rocket recovery process. The launch site and related equipment and facilities have rapid inspection and maintenance capabilities. The inspection and maintenance cycle can be checked within 10 days to meet the conditions for the next flight, laying a solid foundation for the rapid return of the rocket and launch flight base. The rocket, powered by a liquid oxygen and methane engine, was developed by Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Ltd., better known as iSpace. It also completed a vertical take-off and landing test flight on November 2. Meanwhile, on December 9, the Zhuque-2 Y-3 carrier rocket was launched into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It was the third flight mission of the Zhuque-2 carrier rocket, and the successful launch made Zhuque-2 China's first commercial liquid carrier rocket to complete subsequent launches. The same launch center also saw activity on December 5, when China launched a CERES-1 Y9 carrier rocket. It sent two new satellites into their planned orbits, marking the 11th flight mission of the CERES-1 series of carrier rockets. Developed by Beijing-based Galactic Energy, CERES-1 is a small-scale solid-fuel rocket launcher designed to send micro-satellites into low orbit. The Dec. 5 launch was the first by this commercial rocket developer to send satellites into twilight orbit. Developing recoverable and reusable launch vehicles is essential for commercial spaceflight companies, both domestic and international, to experiment with maximum input-output ratio, said Ji Haibo, chief designer of iSpace's SQX-2Y rocket. The two recent launches verified the rocket's rapid reusability, meaning that iSpace has made progress in mastering a number of key technologies for low-altitude return and landing of reusable rockets and their reuse, Ji added. Methane is cheap and easy to purchase, and the characteristics of methane with liquid oxygen, which is resistant to coking and carbon formation, are conducive to the maintenance of engines and rockets, making its use one of the feasible routes for the construction of reusable rockets, said Liu Lei, general manager of the engine research and development department at LandSpace. Developed independently by LandSpace, the Zhuque-2 is China's first medium-to-large liquid rocket with liquid oxygen and methane as propellants. Shortly after the Zhuque-2 Y-3 carrier rocket took off, LandSpace unveiled its development plan for the Zhuque-3, which will be powered by its methane engines. LandSpace said the Zhuque-3 first stage will be reusable for no fewer than 20 launches and designed with a strong launch capability that can help build a large-scale satellite internet constellation. Galactic Energy was from Xia Dongkun and other partners. The company provides commercial carrier rocket launch services and has unveiled research plans named after the asteroids Ceres and Pallas. Guodian Gaoke, a Beijing-based commercial technology company, sent their four satellites, Tianqi 21-24, into space aboard the CERES-1 rocket on September 5. The four satellites are part of the Tianqi Internet of Things constellation in low Earth orbit. According to the company, the constellation of 38 satellites will go into operation in 2024. It will provide global data services for application scenarios, such as emergency communications, ecological environment monitoring and tower detection. Commercial rockets and satellites are both important components of China's commercial space industry, and the size of this market has now exceeded one trillion yuan (about $141 billion), with the number of commercial space enterprises registered and operating in China exceeding 400.