China is developing a new commercial rocket that can carry 20 satellites

Name: Chinese factories race to get rockets ready for space launch missions
Uploaded: 2021-03-03T14:00:13.000Z
Duration: 1 min 23 s
Description: Chinese factories race to get rockets ready for space launch missions

The small-lift vehicle will be ‘strongly competitive’, according to a scientist on the project

Developer says it will be able to transport up to 1.5 tonnes to an altitude of 500km and its first launch is expected next year

Reading Time:2 minutes

Why you can trust SCMP

A model of the Jielong-3 (left) and its predecessors. A rocket scientist on the project said it was aimed at the growing market for large-scale commercial satellite launches. Photo: Handout

Liu Zhen

Published: 10:00pm, 3 Mar 2021Updated: 11:07pm, 3 Mar 2021

China will launch a new solid-fuel rocket for the commercial market next year that will be able to transport 20 satellites at a time, according to state media.

The Jielong-3, or Smart Dragon-3 – a small-lift launch vehicle – will operate at a competitive cost per mass of US$10,000 a kilogram, Jiang Jie, a rocket scientist with the rocket’s developer, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), told Xinhua on Wednesday.

That compares to its predecessor, the Jielong-1, whose maiden flight in 2019 was priced at US$30,000 per kilogram.

Heavy-lift rockets like the SpaceX Falcon 9 have managed to reduce costs to just US$2,720 per kilogram for low-Earth orbit, but it is usually more expensive to send the same payload into space on a smaller launch vehicle. For example, the US-made Minotaur IV costs about US$30,000 a kilogram and the Electron is a little cheaper at US$23,000 a kilogram.

01:23

Chinese factories race to get rockets ready for space launch missions

China’s small-lift rockets – the Kuaizhou-1 and Long March-11 – already operate at about US$10,000 per kilogram but the Jielong-3 will be significantly bigger at 2.64 metres wide and 140 tonnes.

The developer said it would be able to carry up to 1.5 tonnes, or 20 satellites, into sun-synchronous orbit, or an altitude of about 500km. The Jielong-1 can transport just 200kg, while the Long March-11 can handle 350kg, and the Kuaizhou-1 430kg.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x