Author Topic: Summary & Comparison of China's new small satellite launchers  (Read 9492 times)

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Recently I have been re-reading about the bloom of small Chinese launchers using solid stages from various competitors, and it seems that information out there about them (even in Chinese!) are rather confusing and scarce (although some did come out later on). The pedigrees of them are also anybody's guesses (while some might be ICBM derivatives other solid stages seems to be more evolved, like using composite casings).

I'm making this thread as an attempt to summarize information out there about the likes of CZ-11, KZ-1/11 and see if the data are enough to allow us to conclude how they are designed and if there's a (most internal) market big enough to support all of them in operations.  ;)
« Last Edit: 04/05/2018 10:35 am by Galactic Penguin SST »
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

(placeholder for CALT's CZ-11)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

(placeholder for CASIC's KZ-1A)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

(placeholder for CASIC's KZ-11)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

(placeholder for CASIC's KT-1)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

(placeholder for CASIC's KT-2)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

(placeholder for future plans by the "major players" like CALT and CASIC)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

(placeholder for new Chinese start-ups which are planning to use solid stages)
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Offline Moon Rabbit

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CZ-11
For information on CZ-11, i find the following article most useful so far:-
http://sinodefence.com/cz-11/

It has references to official CASC articles about the CZ-11. These references are included as footnote and the links can be found at the bottom of the page. Maybe we can use these information as a starting point with regards to CZ-11.

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Offline SmallKing

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SpaceTY and CALT signed a strategic agreement on the long term use of CZ11
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/waQhssD31SpNVxkwf-2bCA
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Offline Moon Rabbit

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A search of 'SpaceTY' in NSF did not churn out any info.

A search of 'Tianyi' in NSF resulted in some hits. These two are probably associated with SpaceTY:-

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=41046.msg1608223#msg1608223
(...the launch of Xiaoxiang-1 by a Hunan Changsha-based Tianyi company by CZ-11 launcher)

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40838.msg1565328#msg1565328
(...thread about Tianyi 'Mini Hubble'...)

There seem to be no company registered as SpaceTY but 'Tianyi Research Instute' turns out regularly when googled:-
https://www.cbinsights.com/company/tianyi-research-institute
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/tianyi-research-institute

Bloomberg list it as 'Changsha Tianyi Space Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd.'
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=375798805

SpaceTY looks to be the trademark for Tianyi Research Institute aka Changsha Tianyi Space Technology Research Institute. The company does not seem to be in the launch vehicle business but rather a microsatellite maker.

@SmallKing, the link you provided what does it really say? From a translation of the article, i get the impression that this company is going into an agreement with CALT to secure usage of CZ-11 to launch more satellites. They are not into developing their own rocket launchers based on CZ-11. SpaceTY is strictly satellite researcher and maker only. Do you think that is the case?
« Last Edit: 10/30/2017 07:51 am by Moon Rabbit »
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Offline SmallKing

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A search of 'SpaceTY' in NSF did not churn out any info.

A search of 'Tianyi' in NSF resulted in some hits. These two are probably associated with SpaceTY:-

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=41046.msg1608223#msg1608223
(...the launch of Xiaoxiang-1 by a Hunan Changsha-based Tianyi company by CZ-11 launcher)

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=40838.msg1565328#msg1565328
(...thread about Tianyi 'Mini Hubble'...)

There seem to be no company registered as SpaceTY but 'Tianyi Research Instute' turns out regularly when googled:-
https://www.cbinsights.com/company/tianyi-research-institute
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/tianyi-research-institute

Bloomberg list it as 'Changsha Tianyi Space Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd.'
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=375798805

SpaceTY looks to be the trademark for Tianyi Research Institute aka Changsha Tianyi Space Technology Research Institute. The company does not seem to be in the vehicle launcher business but rather a microsatellite maker.

@SmallKing, the link you provided what does it really say? From a translation of the article, i get the impression that this company is going into an agreement with CALT to secure usage of CZ-11 to launch more satellites. They are not into developing their own rocket launchers based on CZ-11. SpaceTY is strictly satellite researcher and maker only. Do you think that is the case?
You are right. I seemed to post this news in the wrong place...
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Online Steven Pietrobon

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Here are some brochures I scanned from the IAC here in Adelaide.

Expace (KZ-1A and KZ-11)
ASES (CZ-2D, CZ-4, CZ-6, CZ-2D/YZ-3)
« Last Edit: 11/18/2017 05:25 am by Steven Pietrobon »
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Offline SmallKing

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« Last Edit: 04/06/2018 02:45 pm by SmallKing »
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Well, as you can see, I have never got the time to complete this thread up to now. This might turned out to be a good thing as there are even more new Chinese players (credible or not) coming out (like i-Space, which just did a flight over 100 km out of the blue) and others changing their plans.

I think I'll also include liquid fueled rockets here when I complete the posts soon.  ;)
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Offline russianhalo117

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« Last Edit: 04/05/2018 06:18 pm by russianhalo117 »

Offline Yeknom-Ecaps

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So which is it ....

LinkSpace, Linkspace, Link Space? I have seen it written all three ways .....

It is even different in two ways on their webpage!

Linkspace (Aerospace Technology Group) and LinkSpace ......

www.linkspace.com.cn
« Last Edit: 04/20/2018 11:55 pm by Yeknom-Ecaps »

Offline Galactic Penguin SST

It happens that I still haven't wrote on this thread yet......which turned out to be a good thing because there have been further development on all sides (although the sparse info out there is confusing as hell!). Anyway expect the summaries to be written over the next week or so.  ;)
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Offline Galactic Penguin SST

Well, since somehow one of the companies on the list has come in front, so here's a summary of the rockets by the company LandSpace:

Their rockets are named after the Chinese mythical creature Vermilion Bird, a Chinese mythical creature that stems from their own constellations, probably the most prestige one of them all. The stars are mainly located where Hydra is today.

ZQ-1, which will fly later today, is a 3 stage all solid motor powered rocket that looks suspeciously close to CAST's CZ-11, to the point that there are reports that they sourced all the motors from elsewhere. The same reports on the web indicates that the deal fell through earlier (also with suspected similar deals such as with Onespace) and so ZQ-1 will be a one off vehicle with all attentions by the company turned to the methane powered ZQ-2.

There isn't too much data on the 3 stage ZQ-1 - here are its official figures:

Total length: 19 m
Diameter: 1.35 m
Liftoff mass: 27 mt
Liftoff thrust: 45 mt

Payload capability: 200 kg to 500 km high SSO; 300 kg to 200 km LEO
Can house up to 50 2U/35 3U/16 6U/8 12U cubesats; or 4-6 microsatellites with a trim stage.

Jonathan McDowell indicates that the individual stages come from these sources, although after digging through Chinese forum discussions it seems that the company also had a lot of personnel coming from other institutions (e.g. AALPT; with many people used to be on the YF-100/YF-77/methane YF-77 prototype team):

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1056039143908823041

https://twitter.com/planet4589/status/1056039693631086592

I know that Landspace had ventured into international conferences (e.g. IAC 2018), so if anyone have their bronchures around, please post it here. Thanks!
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Offline Skyrocket

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ZQ-1, which will fly later today, is a 3 stage all solid motor powered rocket that looks suspeciously close to CAST's CZ-11, to the point that there are reports that they sourced all the motors from elsewhere.

I see honestly no similarity to CZ-11. CZ-11 has a much larger diameter (2.0 m)

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