China’s first private sector 2023 rocket launch up, up and away (Image Credit: Space Daily)
Galactic Energy, a private aerospace manufacturer in Beijing, launched its fifth Ceres 1 rocket on Monday afternoon, deploying five small satellites into orbit.
The Ceres 1 Y5 rocket blasted off at 1:04 pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert and placed the satellites into a preset orbit shortly after, the company announced in a news release.
It was China’s first private sector spaceflight of 2023.
Galactic Energy has had five successive successful launches, outperforming other private competitors and its five Ceres 1 flights have placed 19 satellites in orbit.
There are a number of private rocket companies in the country, but only Galactic Energy and i-Space, another Beijing-based private enterprise, have launched successful orbital missions, which refers to a flight by a carrier rocket that deploys a payload into space orbit.
Before Ceres 1, the SQX 1 rocket developed by i-Space launched two satellites and several experimental payloads into space from Jiuquan in July 2019. The model’s maiden flight also marked the first orbital mission by a privately built rocket in China. However, the next three SQX 1 launches failed due to technical malfunction.
The Ceres 1 is about 20 meters tall, has a diameter of 1.4 meters and mainly burns solid propellant. With a liftoff weight of 33 metric tons, it is capable of sending a 300-kilogram satellite or several satellites with a combined weight of 300 kg, to a 500-km sun synchronous orbit, or 350-kg payloads to a low-Earth orbit at an altitude of 200 km.
Ceres 1 is ideal for clients in search of a small, cost-efficient launch vehicle to deploy mini satellites, its designers said.
The rocket made its debut flight in November 2020 from Jiuquan, taking a small communications satellite into space.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
Related Links
Galactic Energy
The Chinese Space Program – News, Policy and Technology
China News from SinoDaily.com
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First rocket launch of the New Year leaves Wenchang for space
Beijing (XNA) Jan 10, 2023
China launched a Long March 7A rocket from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province on Monday morning, sending three satellites into space as part of its first space mission of 2023.
The colossal 60.1-meter rocket blasted off at 6:00 am from the coastal launch center, and soon deployed the Shijian 23 and Shiyan 22A and 22B experimental satellites into orbit, according to a news release from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the leading national space contractor.
The … read more
