China on Friday successfully launched a new commercial rocket: the Hyperbola-1 solid launch vehicle.
The rocket, developed by a Beijing-based private rocket company Interstellar Glory, blasted off at 12:00 pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
This flight test was aimed at verifying the system design of the rocket and accumulating data on its flight performance.
Hyperbola-1 is a four-stage solid launch vehicle powered by four stage solid engines and supplied by a liquid attitude control engine that composes with a four-stage tandem configuration. It is 24-meter tall and 1.4 meters in diameter, and its maximum takeoff weight is limited to around 42 tonnes.
China successfully launches a new commercial rocket, the Hyperbola-1, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, April 7, 2023. /Interstellar Glory
The launch vehicle is capable of carrying 500 kilograms of payload to low-Earth orbit (LEO), or 300 kilograms to Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
The company has also developed a more intelligent and cost-efficient digital launch vehicle computer.
The launch marks the fifth flight of the Hyperbola-1.
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