HELSINKI — Chinese launch startup Landspace sent six satellites into orbit Saturday with the fifth launch of its Zhuque-2 series methane-fueled rocket.
The Zhuque-2E lifted off at 12:12 a.m. Eastern (0412 UTC) May 17 from a dedicated pad at Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest China.
The launch carried six Tianyi spacecraft into orbit for commercial satellite maker Spacety, involving a number of partners. The satellites will be used for commercial C-band synthetic aperture radar imagery (Tianyi-42), optical remote sensing (Tianyi-29 and 35) and space science experiments (Tianyi-34, 45 and 46).
The latter include a pair of satellites for the Tiansuan constellation developed under the lead of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications. One of these (Tianyi 45) uses argon ion thrusters and will be used for active deorbit control at end of mission. The third (Tianyi-34) carries separate gamma-ray burst and X-ray polarization detector payloads, and a camera specifically to observe aurora.
The mission was the second flight of the methane-liquid oxygen enhanced Zhuque-2 (Vermillion Bird-2), or Zhuque-2E, which can carry 4,000 kg to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. The first launch took place in November 2024, carrying the Guangchuan 01 and 02 satellites for commercial firm Laser Starcom. The two satellites conducted a 400 Gbps laser intersatellite link test in March.
The first enhanced 47.3-meter-long Zhuque-2E had a diameter of 3.35 meters. The second flight featured an expanded 4.2-meter-diameter composite payload fairing.
Landpace’s post-launch statement noted that the second Zhuque-2E featured upgraded Tianque-12A engines, while the second stage Tianque-15A engine this time used a niobium-tungsten alloy extended nozzle. The company also noted its first use of quasi-real-time wind correction trajectory design technology, claimed to be a domestic first.
There have now been five Zhuque-2 flights in all. The first, in December 2022, ended in failure, while the second, in July 2023, marked the first methane-fueled rocket to reach orbit globally.
The company is also making progress towards the first flight of the Zhuque-3, a much larger, stainless steel methalox launch vehicle. The two-stage Zhuque-3 will be 4.5 meters in diameter and have a total length of 76.6 meters, with a payload capacity to low Earth orbit of 21,000 kilograms when expendable. In April Landspace completed an integration test and could move to a static fire test in June.
An image of the liftoff of the Zhuque-2E on Saturday appears to show launch infrastructure for the Zhuque-3 in the background, along with a flame stack burning off excess fuel. The main Jiuquan pads are visible in the far distance.
The launch was China’s 27th orbital launch of the year and comes amid an uptick in Chinese launch cadence. It follows the launches of the classified TJS-19 to geosynchronous orbit via a Long March 3C, the Yaogan-40 (02) group aboard a Long March 6A, and a Long March 2D carrying 12 on-orbit computing satellites, all within the past week.
Four more launches are scheduled for the coming days. A Ceres-1 solid rocket is set to launch from a sea platform off the coast of Shandong province Monday, May 19. Following this, a Long March 7A from Wenchang is expected May 20, followed by a Kinetica-1 solid rocket from Jiuquan May 21.
The launch of the Tianwen-2 near Earth asteroid sample return and main belt comet mission from Xichang spaceport is scheduled between May 28-30.
