Tech breakthroughs boost China's commercial space industry development

China's commercial space industry has achieved notable breakthroughs in 2023, completing a series of successful rocket launches.

Many private space startups are busy creating and testing reusable rockets, sending payloads into orbit to catch up with their peers in the industry.

China's hat-trick of rocket launches in the first 10 days of December exemplifies the rapid advancement of the country's commercial space industry.

The high cost of rocket launches is regarded as a "roadblock" hindering large-scale access to space, and the reuse of launch vehicles is the most important means of reducing such costs.

The technological breakthroughs would not have been achieved without policy support. In 2014, the Chinese government opened up the country's space sector to private investment, with numerous aerospace startups founded shortly afterward.

Successful launches

The SQX-2Y, China's commercial reusable rocket, completed its second test flight at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China last week, the first reuse of such a rocket in China.

The rocket, propelled by a liquid oxygen 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 sent into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

It was the third flight mission of the Zhuque-2 carrier rocket, and the success of the launch made Zhuque-2 China's first commercial liquid carrier rocket to complete successive launches.

This same launch center also saw activity on December 5 when China launched a CERES-1 Y9 carrier rocket. It sent two new satellites to their planned orbits, marking the 11th flight mission of the CERES-1 rocket series.

Developed by Beijing-based Galactic Energy, the CERES-1 is a small-scale solid-propellant carrier rocket designed to send micro-satellites into low orbit.

The launch on December 5 was the first by this commercial rocket developer to send satellites into twilight orbit.

Key technologies

Developing recoverable and reusable launch vehicles is a must for commercial spaceflight companies at home and abroad to pursue the highest input-output ratio, said Ji Haibo, chief designer of the iSpace rocket SQX-2Y.

The two recent launches have verified the rapid reusability of the rocket, which means iSpace has made inroads into mastering a series of key technologies for the low-altitude return and landing of reusable rockets and their reuse, Ji added.

Methane is inexpensive and easy to purchase, and the characteristics of liquid oxygen methane, which is resistant to coking and carbon buildup, are conducive to the maintenance of engines and rockets, making its use one of the feasible paths to building reusable rockets, said Liu Lei, general manager of the engine research and development department at LandSpace.

Independently developed by LandSpace, the Zhuque-2 is China's first medium- and large-size liquid rocket with liquid oxygen and methane as propellants.

Soon after the Zhuque-2 Y-3 carrier rocket lifted off, LandSpace unveiled its development plan for the Zhuque-3, which will be propelled by its methane engines.

LandSpace said the first stage of Zhuque-3 will be reusable for no less than 20 launches and designed with a strong launch capability that can help build a large-scale satellite internet constellation.

Galactic Energy was co-founded by Xia Dongkun and other partners in 2018.

The company provides commercial carrier rocket launch services and has unveiled research plans named after the Ceres and Pallas asteroids.

"Ceres and Pallas are asteroids that seemed far away from Earth when they were discovered. However, now, a human-made space probe has visited Ceres. We hope that rockets developed by our company will also bring space, which previously seemed so far away, closer to people's daily lives," said Xia, a former senior technician with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

Extensive application

Rockets are the most important vehicles for achieving space programs, and the main customers of commercial space companies now are commercial satellite companies.

"We are more aimed at the commercial market. What customers need is what we will seek to research and develop," said Xia.

Guodian Gaoke, a Beijing-based commercial sci-tech firm, had their four satellites, Tianqi 21-24, sent to space aboard the CERES-1 rocket on September 5.

The four satellites are part of the Tianqi low-Earth orbit Internet of Things constellation.

According to the company, the 38-satellite constellation 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.

Large-capacity rockets can certainly launch small commercial low orbit satellites, but the "starting price" is higher, said Pei Yao, a senior staff member at Guodian Gaoke.

Commercial rocket companies have developed small-capacity, low-orbit launch plans that can accurately match this demand, and the prices they offer are much lower, providing an additional option for satellite companies, added Pei.

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 registered and effectively operating commercial space enterprises in China exceeding 400.

"Through continuous research, development and improvement, commercial rocket companies have been able to work out a set of standardized processes applicable to the whole industrial chain, driving commercial spaceflight toward a virtuous circle and making it more and more popular," said Liu.

(With input from Xinhua)