China's Space Program Thread II

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According to this

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, the improved Long March 8 variant will have its maiden flight in June of 2024.

Compared to the basic LM-8, the improved variant will have a larger diameter final stage (increased from 3m to 3.34m) and a larger fairing (increased from 4.2m to 5.2m).

The 3.35m-diameter final stage (driven by the 10-ton Lox/LH2 YF-75H engine) of the improved Long March 8 has recently completed a full-system test run.

 

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The private launch provider Tianbing Technology has officially unveiled its Tianlong-3 launch vehicle at the 9th China (International) Commercial Space Summit Forum.

Some specs:
- Length: 71m
- Diameter: 3.8m
- Mass: 590 tons
- Thrust at takeoff: 770 tons
- Payload to LEO: 17 tons

 

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It's been confirmed! The next-generation 5G broadband satellites developed by Beijing GalaxySpace will be launched sometime in the 3rd quarter of this year (2023).

The next generation 5G broadband satellites from GalaxySpace have left the factory and will be launched on July 23rd from Taiyuan launch center. The satellites are stackable and features flexible solar panels.

Orbit: 508km sun-synchronous, near-circular
Design life: 5 years
Take-off mass: ≤330kg
Power consumption: 4500W
Measurement and control frequency band: X-band/V-band
Dimensions: 2.1m × 3.35m × 0.6m

 

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A presentation slide summarizing the first launch dates (realized and planned) of various launch vehicles from private companies.

 

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Some presentation slides from the private launch provider Galactic Energy.

- Ceres-1 will carry out 8 to 10 launches this year, with a planned production capacity of 40 rockets per year.
- Pallas-1 two-stage LOX/kerosene rocket, with a diameter of 3.35 meters and a take-off mass of 254 tons. The first stage is powered by seven 50-ton engines. Capacity to LEO is 5 to 7 tons. Maiden flight planned for Q3 of 2024. Reusable first stage recovery planned for 2025.
- Palas-1 booster variant (two boosters) has a fairing diameter of 5.2 meters, a take-off mass of 640 tons, and a payload capacity (LEO) of 15 tons. Maiden flight planned for 2026.

 

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(Continued from above...)

Some information on the upper stage of the Pallas-1 rocket. It uses NTO/MMH propellant, the main engine thrust is 5000N/2500N, with a nozzle swing angle of 5 degrees. Interestingly, the upper stage appears to be capable of being used as a long-term orbital platform.

Very neat. An image of a vertical VTVL test:

 

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Some presentation slides from i-Space (also known as Interstellar Glory, Space Honor, Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology, StarCraft Glory, Interplanetary Glory, Interplanetary Glory Space Technology, so on and on and on).

I can't take seriously a company that seems incapable of settling on an official name for itself. In fact, it has more names and aliases than it has launch attempts, most which were failures anyway, so I won't bother summarizing the presentation.

P.S. I hope the company fails so that funding and talents are redistributed to other more promising startups.

 

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