LinkSpace

LinkSpace[1] (Chinese: 翎客航天[2][3]; pinyin: Líng-kè Hángtiān; lit. 'LINK Aerospace') or Link Space Aerospace Technology Inc. is a Chinese private space launch company based in Beijing. It is led by CEO Hu Zhenyu,[4] and founded as the first private rocket firm in China.[5] The company was founded in 2014, by Hu Zhenyu, a graduate of South China University of Technology; Yan Chengyi, a graduate of Tsinghua University; and Wu Xiaofei, a manufacturing expert. The company is registered in Shenzhen.[6]

This article is about the Chinese rocket company. For the character naming space for internet links, see URL.
Link Space Aerospace Technology Inc.
LinkSpace
TypePrivate
IndustryAerospace
Founded2014
FounderHu Zhenyu, Yan Chengyi, and Wu Xiaofei
Headquarters
Beijing Edit this on Wikidata
Websitelinkspace.com.cn

Rockets

Test rockets

In 2013, before the official registration of the company, Hu's team was testing the KC-SA-TOP suborbital rocket with 50 kg (110 lb) payloads in Horqin Left Rear Banner, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.[5][6]

Reusable Rocket Landing

LinkSpace launched a new prototype for a reusable rocket in Eastern China. The launch took place on April 2, 2019.[7]

VTVL prototypes

LinkSpace has built flying vertical-takeoff/vertical-landing (VTVL) prototype test rockets, to develop its reusable rocket technology. By July 2016, it achieved hover flight with a single-engine thrust-vectored rocket. By September 2017, it had built three hovering rockets, tested in Shandong Province.[4]

On 19 April 2019, the VTVL prototype test rocket RLV-T5 flew to a height of 40 m (131 ft) and landed safely after thirty seconds of flight.[8] RLV-T5, also known as NewLine Baby, is 8.1 m (27 ft) in length, weighs 1.5 t (1,100 lbs) and has five liquid engines.[9]

On 10 August 2019 the company reported a test flight reaching a height of 300 meters.[10]

On 5 May 2022, the company announced that it had conducted a static fire test of its RLV-T6 test vehicle in preparation for a 100 km (62 mi) altitude test flight in late 2022, but in September it was expected to be launched no earlier than mid-2023.[11] The rocket will launch from Lenghu, in Qinghai Province.[12]

New Line 1

The New Line 1 (Xin Gan Xian 1; Chinese: 新干线一号; pinyin: xīn gàn xiàn 1) is a two-stage rocket under development to launch microsats and nanosats, with a reusable first stage. It is to be a liquid-fuelled rocket, with a diameter of 1.8 m (5.9 ft), height of 20 m (66 ft). It would have a lift-off mass of 33 t (32 long tons; 36 short tons) and take-off thrust of 400 kN (90,000 lbf), allowing a payload of 200 kg (440 lb) to be lifted into a Sun synchronous orbit (SSO) of 249–550 km (155–342 mi) high.[13]

The first stage would have four liquid engines, fueled by kerolox (liquid oxygen and kerosene), each producing 100 kN (22,000 lbf) of thrust.[14] It is projected to have an initial launch cost of $4.5 million, dropping to $2.25 million using a reused first stage.[13] As of the end of 2017, the main rocket engine has been tested over 200 times, and first launch was planned for 2020.[15]

Future New Line rockets

Future development of a reusable second stage, in addition to the reusable first stage, is anticipated for in a future vehicle, such as New Line 3.[4]

Services

LinkSpace is planning to also be a transport and rocket services company, providing rocket parts, and transportation. As part of the transportation, it will not just send payloads into orbit, or on suborbital jaunts; it also plans to send packages from one point on Earth to another point. This is similar to SpaceX's plan for suborbital rocket passenger transport anywhere around the world with Starship.[16]

Marketplace

LinkSpace is in competition with several other Chinese space rocket startups, being LandSpace, Galactic Energy, ExPace, i-Space, OneSpace and Deep Blue Aerospace.[17] With rocket reusability and point-to-point transport, it is similar to SpaceX.[16]

See also

References
  1. "重磅！中国成功测试可回收火箭[视频]" (in Chinese). DWNews. 9 January 2018.
  2. "Linkspace".
  3. Henri Kenhamn (2017). "LandSpace : le futur SpaceX chinois" (in French). East Pendulum.
  4. "In the Footsteps of SpaceX: Chinese Company Eyes Development of a Reusable Launch Vehicle". AstroWatch.net. 17 September 2017.
  5. "21-yr-old man sets up China's first private rocket firm". ANSA. People's Daily Online. 31 July 2014.
  6. "China's first private rocket firm aims for market". Space Daily. XNA. 19 August 2014.
  7. Tone, Sixth (2 April 2019). "Reusable Rocket Landing One Small Step for China's Space Startups". #SixthTone. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
  8. "China's LinkSpace successfully launches reusable rocket to a new height". www.ecns.cn. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  9. "LinkSpace successfully launches reusable rocket prototype". Room, The Space Journal. Retrieved 2019-04-22.
  10. LinkSpace on Twitter: On August 10, LinkSpace’s third rocket free flight test was successful in Mangai, Qinghai province. The flight time is 50 seconds, the height of flight is 300.4 meters.
  11. China Spaceflight [@CNSpaceflight] (29 September 2022). "Five engines on display in their rocket assembly/test facility in Jiangyin, Jiangsu. But it seems the rocket has been covered by a layer of dust. It's also mentioned in the interview that the 100km test flight has been postponed to NET mid-2023。" (Tweet). Retrieved 29 September 2022 – via Twitter.
  12. Jones, Andrew (6 May 2022). "LinkSpace returns: Chinese startup plans rocket launch and landing this year". Space.com. Retrieved 1 June 2022.
  13. "China's Link Space Unveiled Design for a Reusable Rocket". Futurism. 2017.
  14. "Breaking SpaceX: China's LinkSpace Reveals Rockets That Are Reusable". Wall Street Pit. 26 September 2017.
  15. Jeffrey Lin; P.W. Singer (18 December 2017). "China could become a major space power by 2050". Popular Science.
  16. Rich Smith (8 October 2017). "Is This Chinese Company the Next SpaceX?". Motley Fool.
  17. Doug Messier (20 December 2017). "EXPACE Raises US$182 Million for Small Satellite Launchers". Parabolic Arc.
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