Galactic energy other powerful solid rocket meant to replace hyperbola 1 was supposed to launch this month. Haven’t heard anything from it since then. What happened ?
China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
Will probably slip to January 2026
I can't find any recent news about Pallas-1 but according to the chart in post #6794 it was originally scheduled for Q4 2025 or Q1 2026 so most likely it's just not going to launch in 2025.
Tianlong-3 has now completed testing with 36 satellites, likely done this with help from Genesat, Spacesail maker.
Interesting. Do they have a contract to launch spacesails satellites ?
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Yes TL-3 is going for launches first then reusable later. ZQ-3 and LM-12A are going for recovery on 1st launch attempt. Nonetheless you shouldn't expect fast turnaround time even if ZQ-3 and LM-12A succeed in recovery on first attempt. It will take them quite a while to check everything and ensure they can be used again. Don't expect the recovered rocket to be launched again in a month or anything like that, it will probably take more like 6-12 months.
That’s normal actually. Others did the same. Most important thing is bailing the landing first.
It’s a shame though, since I don’t think they will lose anything from attempting a recovery. Since the sats will still be launched so why not try even you fail, you don’t lose anything much
Attempting a recovery requires additional equipment and keeping propellant for the reentry and landing maneuvers, this lowers the payload, Space Pionneer is contracted for a few Qianfan batch launches, in this case lower performance directly means less satellites sent to orbit, I am personally skeptical that initial, unoptimised versions of Tianlong 3 can launch the 11t 36 Qianfan batches to a polar 800-900km orbit while attempting a recovery.
A quick look at that if a Falcon 9 can launch 17.5 tons, a standard 28-29 starlink batches, to a standard low-mid inclination 200km orbit, it can only launch 12 tons to a 800km polar orbit, initial versions of Tianlong 3 will be less capable and have less efficient recovery profile than Falcon 9.