{"id":33756,"date":"2023-12-10T10:47:25","date_gmt":"2023-12-10T10:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/landspaces-methane-powered-rocket-sends-satellites-into-orbit-the-express-tribune\/"},"modified":"2023-12-10T10:47:25","modified_gmt":"2023-12-10T10:47:25","slug":"landspaces-methane-powered-rocket-sends-satellites-into-orbit-the-express-tribune","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistaninewspaperlist.com\/news\/landspaces-methane-powered-rocket-sends-satellites-into-orbit-the-express-tribune\/","title":{"rendered":"LandSpace’s methane-powered rocket sends satellites into orbit | The Express Tribune"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A rocket developed by LandSpace Technology on Saturday launched three satellites into orbit, a milestone in the Chinese\u00a0private rocket\u00a0startup’s mission to test whether its vehicle using methane and liquid oxygen is ready for commercial liftoffs.<\/p>\n

The success could boost investor confidence in methane as a potential rocket fuel, which is deemed able to help slash costs and support reusable rockets in a cleaner and more efficient way.<\/p>\n

Several private Chinese rocket startups have lined up test or commercial launches, aiming to prepare their products for the increasing demand in China’s expanding\u00a0commercial\u00a0space industry, amid growing competition to form a constellation of satellites as an alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink.<\/p>\n

Zhuque-2 Y-3 blasted off at 7:39 a.m. (1139 GMT on Friday) from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China’s Inner Mongolia region, becoming the third LandSpace test rocket for Zhuque-2, and the first that succeeded in lifting satellites.<\/p>\n

A second attempt, without real satellites, in July made LandSpace the world’s first company to launch a methane-liquid oxygen rocket, ahead of\u00a0US\u00a0rivals\u00a0including Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin.<\/p>\n

The two launches showed Zhuque-2 is reliable enough for commercial launches, LandSpace said in a statement.<\/p>\n

LandSpace said the three satellites reached 460-km (285-mile) sun-synchronous orbit, without providing details on the types and overall weight of them.<\/p>\n

Zhuque-2 is capable of putting payloads totalling 1.5 metric tons into 500-km (300-mile) orbit, which LandSpace plans to increase to 4 tons in upgraded versions, the Beijing-based company said.<\/p>\n

Zhuque-2 Y-3 carried two 50-kilogram test satellites developed by Chinese startup Spacety, one of which has adopted technologies from a company named Hongqing, according to a Spacety statement on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Hongqing said in a statement the rocket also carried one of its test satellites, without disclosing the weight.<\/p>\n

The two Hongqing-linked test satellites in Saturday’s launch are designed to support forming a low-orbit satellite constellation, said Hongqing, in which LandSpace holds a stake.<\/p>\n

LandSpace said last year the first launch last December failed, without specifying whether the test rocket, Zhuque-2 Y-1, carried any satellite payloads.<\/p>\n

The eight-year-old startup said earlier this year it plans to provide clients with about three launches in 2024 and double that in 2025.<\/p>\n

Chinese startup OrienSpace said it has scheduled the debut launch of its solid-fuel rocket, Gravity-1, in December. Deep Blue Aerospace, which is developing a reusable kerosene-fuelled rocket, aims to complete next year its first test of launching the Nebula-1 rocket to orbit and recovering it.<\/p>\n

Galactic Energy on Tuesday launched its solid-propellant rocket Ceres-1 with two satellites into orbit, after a failure in September and a series of successful launches earlier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n