Space: Four launches planned for next year

The launch’s success will lay a solid foundation for i-Space’s research and development of its SQX-1, its latest mass-production carrier rocket, as well as future reusable, liquid-fuel rockets, the company’s statement said.

Xie Fang, a senior designer at i-Space, said the company plans to carry out SQX-1’s maiden flight in the first half of 2019.

The new rocket will have a diameter of 1.4 meters and a length of 20 meters, with a liftoff weight of 31 tons. The company is hoping its SQX-1 will be able to transport a 300-kilogram satellite into a low-Earth orbit or a 100-kg satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit, Xie said.

The designer noted that four launches of SQX-1 rockets are scheduled in 2019 to lift satellites for domestic clients.

Meanwhile, i-Space has begun to design the SQX-3, the largest model that the company has so far revealed.

With nine 15-ton-thrust, liquid-fuel engines, SQX-3 is scheduled to blast off as early as 2020, Xie added.

Xing Qiang, founder of Micro-Rocket Union, a nonprofit space research organization in Beijing and a renowned industry observer, said that the SQX-1Z has become the biggest and most powerful carrier rocket developed by Chinese private enterprises.

“Using a suborbital carrier rocket to lift multiple satellites is not an easy job and demonstrates the technological reliability of a rocket’s designer,” he said.

“In this regard, Wednesday’s launch displayed i-Space’s strength in carrier rockets and also showed that China’s private space enterprises have the potential to turn into world-class players.”

Xing also noted that the fact that a government-run launch site has opened its doors to private companies reflects the government’s determination to encourage private participation in the space sector to boost the nation’s overall space capability.