On the 8th of December, Greenwich Mean Time, or the 9th of December, China Standard Time, LandSpace launched its Zhuque-2 rocket for the third time. This launch was the first time the rocket delivered a payload to orbit, and the first time a rocket burning liquid methane successfully placed payloads into orbit of the Earth.
This launch took place from Launch Area 96 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, which is in Inner Mongolia in the north of the People's Republic of China, carrying three payloads to a 460km sun-synchronous orbit.
The first of the three payloads is the Tianyi-33 satellite from Hunan University of Science and Technology and TYSPACE. Tianyi-33 masses just fifty kilograms and is intended to test new technologies including a new spacecraft thermal control system, composite material for anti-radiation effects, high-output electric power supplies, payload control software, and a camera.
The other two payloads are the Honghu-1 and Honghu-2 satellites which also mass fifty kilograms each. The Honghu satellites are intended for long-term in-space testing of argon ion thrusters as well as xenon and krypton hall-effect thrusters.
The third launch of Zhuque-2 brings the rocket closer to mass production LandSpace wants to achieve and proves the launch vehicles' stability and technical maturity even further.
Dai Zheng, Deputy Chief Engineer and Deputy Chief Commander of Zhuque-2, while speaking to Chinese media said the following after the launch;
"Rockets are in the trend of large carrying capacity and low cost in the commercial space era. The key to the industrialization and commercialization of liquid rockets is to achieve low-cost, large-scale manufacturing and delivery, and continuous and stable launch"
The company also announced its plans to launch Zhuque-2 three times in 2024, six times in 2025, and twelve times in 2026.
What is Zhuque-2?
Zhuque-2 is LandSpace's operational methalox, liquid methane and liquid oxygen, liquid fuel two-stage rocket aiming to lift 4,000 kilograms into a 200-kilometer orbit or 2,000 kilograms into a sun-synchronous orbit.
The Zhuque-2 rocket is powered by four TQ-12 Methane-Oxygen engines on the first stage providing 67 tons of thrust each for a combined 268 tons of thrust. The second stage of the rocket is powered by a single vacuum-optimized TQ-12 engine, producing 80 tons of thrust, and a TQ-11 Methane-Oxygen engine acting as a vernier thruster, producing 8 tons of thrust, for a combined 88 tons of thrust.
Zhuque-2 currently flies in the Block 1 configuration with the improved Block 2 configuration currently in development.
Who is LandSpace?
LandSpace Technology Corporation is a Chinese private space launch provider based out of the city of Beijing and was founded by Zhang Changwu in 2015.
The company launched its first rocket, Zhuque-1, on the 27th of October 2018 but failed to reach orbit. Zhueque-1 was a three-stage all solid propellant rocket that was aiming to lift 300 kilograms into orbit until its cancellation in favour of Zhuque-2. LandSpace has so far launched all of its rockets from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center located in the Gobi Desert in northern China.
