A Private Chinese Space Firm Successfully Launched a Rocket Into Orbit
Hello reader!
It follows one note published on the day (07/25), in the website
"QUARTZ", announcing that a private Chinese space firm successfully
launched a rocket into orbit.
Duda Falcão
THIRD TIME LUCKY
A Private Chinese Space Firm Successfully Launched a Rocket Into Orbit
By Echo HuangJuly
Quartz
July 25, 2019
Hyperbola-1.
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After two Chinese private companies failed to launch a
rocket into orbit, the third attempt has been successful.
Beijing-based Interstellar Glory Space Technology (also
known as iSpace) launched a rocket into orbit today (July 25) around 1:10 pm
local time from Jiuquan, a state launch facility in the Gobi desert, a company
spokesperson told Quartz. That made it the first private Chinese space company
to launch a rocket into orbit—an essential step in the commercialization of
applications such as transporting satellites.
The three-year-old firm launched a 20-meter-tall (65
feet) rocket called Hyperbola-1. It weighs 31 metric tons (34 tons), and
consists of three solid-propellant stages and a fourth liquid-propellant stage.
It’s designed to have a payload of 300 kilograms (660 lbs) in low-earth orbit,
and 150 kg (330 lbs) in orbits of 700 kilometers (430 miles), according
to the company (link in Chinese).
LandSpace and OneSpace,
two other private companies, failed to launch a rocket into orbit in October
and March, respectively. The
failure of those launches is creating uncertainty over China’s private space
industry, as multiple companies compete to enter the launch market for small
commercial satellites. The government called for private investment in the
sector in 2014, but so far no company has been able to launch a rocket into
orbit.
It’s unclear how much it cost for iSpace to build the
rocket. Chinese state-owned automaker Changan’s passenger car brand
Oushang said
it would sponsor the launch, but didn’t specify the amount. In
OneSpace’s case, the firm’s nine-meter-tall, solid-propellent rocket cost
the company $78 million to design, build, and launch. iSpace’s main private backers (link
in Chinese) include domestic private-equity firms CDH Investments and Matrix
Partners.
iSpace didn’t immediately respond to requests for
comment.
But private space companies are also getting state
support in China. All of the private launches so far, for example, have taken
place at Jiuquan—Elon Musk’s SpaceX recently launched
a rocket at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center, while its main customer is
the US Air Force. What’s different in China is the constraints that come
with having state backing. In June, China rolled out a set of rules that
restrict what private companies can develop and manufacture. It’s unclear if
that may restrict private companies’ capabilities in building larger rockets
that could
rival state rocket builders.
iSpace Hyperbola-1 launch
Source: Website Quartz - https://qz.com
Comentário: Pois é leitor, olha aí, enquanto continuamos
patinhando sem que o governo tome uma decisão firme e definitiva quanto ao apoio
ao ‘newspace’ e as startups que podem fazer a diferença nessa área de veículos
lançadores, os chineses estão mandando vê, com pouca conversa e mais ação. Cadê
o ensaio estrutural do motor S50, anunciado que foi pelo IAE no final de
novembro passado de que ocorreria no Laboratório de Ensaios Estruturais no
Hangar X-20 do instituto, ao longo do primeiro trimestre de 2019??? O ensaio
ocorreu, o desenvolvimento do projeto esta na prazo??? Pois então leitor.,
temos a tecnologia, temos os profissionais, temos o conhecimento, mas falta
atitude de quem pode mudar essa ciranda de descaso que atinge o Programa
Espacial há décadas. A empresa chinesa ‘I-Space’, alheia a isso e atuando num
universo que lhe é propicio, lançou como sucesso um foguete suborbital
modificado para lançar microssatélites em órbita LEO, ou seja, agora os
chineses entraram definitivamente neste mercado. Logo leitor , enquanto o
projeto do VLM-1 patina e sabe-se lá por quanto tempo (vide o que aconteceu com
o SARA e o Motor L75), o que estamos esperando para não seguir o exemplo chinês,
ou seja, porque não utilizar a ideia já existente de se utilizar o VSB-30 como
foguete base e assim desenvolver um veículo lançador modificado se valendo da motivação,
capacidade e dinamismo das startups espaciais brasileiras? Estamos ficando para trás a passos largos e a
verdade é que precisamos de uma posição governamental para ontem e mesmo assim
ela chegará com mais de duas décadas de atraso. Aproveito para agradecer ao nosso leitor Rui Botelho pelo envio do vídeo e deste artigo.
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