Shandong-based Eastern Aerospace completed its first launch, breaking the record for the largest payload of a commercial rocket in China’s growing aerospace industry.
Chinese company roll out The Gravity One rocket blasted off from a mobile platform in the Yellow Sea at 12:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, creating a massive plume above the water that framed the launch vehicle as it lifted into the sky. The rocket launched three commercial weather satellites Yunyao-1 (18-20) into orbit.
Eastern Aerospace was founded in 2020, and Gravity One marks its first rocket launch; a company’s first launch vehicle enters orbit on the first try, such a success is extremely rare. The three-stage rocket can lift approximately 14,330 pounds (6,500 kilograms or 6.5 metric tons) to low Earth orbit or 9,260 pounds (4,200 kilograms or 4.2 metric tons) to sun-synchronous orbit using a kerosene-liquid oxygen third stage, according to to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. According to reports, this is the largest payload capacity in China’s commercial aerospace industry, and its carrying capacity is more than twice that of China’s previous two largest solid rockets – the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Kineng-1 and the Chinese rocket Jielong-3. space news.
More importantly, “the rocket is the world’s largest solid propellant launch vehicle and China’s first commercial rocket equipped with a strap-on booster,” according to Xinhua News Agency. Solid propellant launch vehicles use solid rocket motors as their primary thrust source. In contrast, liquid-fuel rockets use a combination of liquid fuel (such as hydrogen or methane) and an oxidizer, which are stored separately and combined in a combustion chamber to produce thrust. Solid rockets are more reliable and easier to operate, while liquid-fuel rockets offer greater flexibility and control of thrust and can more efficiently carry out larger payloads and longer missions.
The Chinese company is already developing two other launch vehicles, Gravity 2 and Gravity 3. “Gravity 2” will be equipped with a liquid fuel core stage and a solid rocket booster, and is designed to launch 25.6 tons into low-Earth orbit, while “Gravity 3” will carry 30 tons, according to statistics Space Network. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket can carry up to 25 tons of objects to low-Earth orbit, while the Falcon Heavy rocket can carry 70 tons of objects.
China’s commercial aerospace industry has been growing since 2014, when the Chinese government began to create a better environment for aerospace companies, allowing investment to flow into aerospace companies rather than continuing to let state-owned enterprises dominate the field.
In July 2023, a Chinese company became First country in the world to launch methane-fueled rocket into orbit. Last year, China conducted a record 67 rocket launches. The “Gravity One” launch is China’s fourth launch in 2024.
Additional reporting by George Dvorsky.
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