Chinese rocket-balloon launch lifts near-space scientific ambitions
- State media reports say a rocket was fired from a helium balloon in the upper atmosphere
- The technology has potential to save on fuel needed to send up research instruments
Chinese scientists say they have succeeded in test-launching a rocket from a high-altitude balloon, a technology that could save on the amount of fuel needed to lift instruments into near space.
According to state media reports, the rocket first carried into the upper atmosphere by a large helium balloon from Lenghu in northwest China’s Qinghai province on Sunday.
When the balloon reached its designated altitude, the rocket was fired via remote control from the ground, the reports said.
The test was a collaboration between the Institute of Atmospheric Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Beijing Xingjian Tianhang Space Technology.
“It marked the first substantial technological breakthrough for this kind of rocket launch in the world,” Xingjian Tianhang general manager Zhang Yichi told state-run China News Service, without giving details of the breakthrough.
Such rockets can carry scientific instruments to measure conditions for atmospheric studies, Earth observation and other applications.