OneSpace

OneSpace[1] (Chinese: 零壹空间[2]; pinyin: Líng Yī Kōngjiān; lit. 'Zero One Space') or One Space Technology Group[3] (Chinese: 零壹空间科技[4]; pinyin: Líng Yī Kōngjiān Kējì; lit. 'Zero One Space Technology') is a Chinese private space launch group based in Beijing, subsidiaries in Chongqing, Shenzhen[5] and Xi'an.[6] OneSpace was founded in 2015. OneSpace is led by CEO Shu Chang, and is targeting the small launcher market for microsatellites and nanosatellites.[7][8] OneSpace launched China's first private rocket in 2018.[9]

OneSpace
IndustryPrivate space launch services
Founded2015 in Beijing, China
FounderShu Chang.
Headquarters
Beijing
,
China
Websitewww.onespacechina.com

The company plans to unveil its family of rockets early in 2019.[10] At least 10 such firms have emerged since the Chinese government policy shift in late 2014 to allow private companies into the launch and small satellite sectors.[11]

Facilities

OneSpace's headquarters and an R&D center is located in Beijing.[10] Its research and development center, and manufacturing and assembly base, is located in Chongqing.[8][10] Its rocket engine testing facility is located in Jiangxi Province and Shanxi Province.[12][8]

Rockets

OS-X series

The OS-X series of rockets are suborbital sounding rockets, reaching high altitude or reaching space but not orbit; they are meant for research and development of their launch systems.

OS-X0

The OS-X0 (aka "Chongqing Liangjiang Star")[13] is a 9 m (30 ft) long suborbital high-altitude rocket. It uses solid propellant and is designed to carry payloads up to 100 km (62 mi) reaching space. First flight (suborbital) was on 17 May 2018, reaching an altitude of 40 km (25 mi).[9][14][15] The rocket is built completely from homegrown Chinese technology.[9] Its launch represents one of the first rockets (see i-Space Hyperbola-1S) designed by a private company launched in China.[13] The development, building and launching of the rocket was achieved with budget less than $78 million. This flight was paid for by the Chinese state owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China.[15]

OS-X1

The OS-X1 (aka "Chongqing Liangjiang Star") is a suborbital high-altitude rocket, a sounding rocket, designed for research and testing.[8] The solid rocket motor was successfully tested in December 2017.[16] This 9-meter long rocket was launched at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 7 September 2018 (04:10 UTC), reaching an altitude of 35 km and traveling 169 km.[17]

OS-X6B

The OS-X6B (aka "Chongqing Liangjiang Star") is a 9.4 m (31 ft) long suborbital high-altitude rocket. It is designed to send payloads up to 300 km (190 mi) with an estimated flight time of 10 minutes. The maiden flight of this rocket took place on 5 February 2021 (09:05 UTC). The flight was successful.[18]

OS-M series

The OS-M series of rockets are larger than the OS-X series and aim to provide low cost flights to LEO and SSO.[19][20]

OS-M

The OS-M is a light-launch satellite launch vehicle rocketing payloads to low Earth orbit (LEO) and Sun synchronous orbit (SSO). It is projected to be capable of lifting 205 kg (452 lb) to 300 km (190 mi) high LEO; and 73 kg (161 lb) to 800 km (500 mi) high SSO.[8][19][21]

As of December 2018, the tests completed for OS-M were：

  • 2018/July/4: First-stage main rocket motor test.
  • 2018/August/24: Three-stage solid-state propellant and the second and third stage separation system test.
  • 2018/October/23: Fourth-stage engine and the third and fourth stage separation system test
  • 2018/November/26 through Nov/30: Attitude control system mechanical environment test.
  • 2018 December: Completed the OS-M attitude control system hot fire test.[22]

OS-M1

OS-M1 or just OS-M, (also known as Chongqing Liangjiang Star[23] or Chongqing SQX[24] or Chongqing or SQX-1Y1[25]), is a 4-stage solid fuel orbital rocket that is 19-meters long, 1.2 meters in diameter[26] and weighs 21-tons. It is designed to lift about 112 kilograms into a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit.[27]

It was launched for its first orbital mission carrying the Lingque-1B technology verification satellite from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 27 March 2019. Liftoff from the TLE-2 flat pad (atop a movable platform[28]) took place at 09:39 UTC.[27][23] After the first-stage separation, OS-M's attitude was unstable and the launch failed.[29] A preliminary investigation found a malfunction of the rate gyroscope as cause. In the follow-up, OneSpace team said they will learn from the mistake and optimize the performance of the rocket.[30]

Reportedly OS-M1 uses demilitarized solid rocket motors from retired military missiles.[24][31][27]

OS-M2

The OS-M2 is similar to the OS-M1, but has two boosters. Block A will be capable of lifting 390 kg (860 lb) to LEO and 204 kg (450 lb) to 800 km (500 mi) SSO, while block B will be capable of lifting 505 kg (1,113 lb) to LEO and 274 kg (604 lb) to 800 km (500 mi) SEO.[32]

OS-M4

The OS-M4 has four boosters. Block A will be capable of lifting 552 kg to LEO and 307 kg to 800 km SSO, while block B will be capable of lifting 748 kg to LEO and 446 kg to 800 km SEO.[33]

Future OS-M rockets

The firm is anticipating making future entries in the OS-M series of rockets in some way reusable.[8]

OneSpace is developing a 59-ton rocket,[7] that was originally scheduled for launch in 2018. It is to have a 500 kg (1,100 lb) payload to LEO. This is projected to cost RMB ¥100,000 CNY/kg ($6500 USD/lb)[34] OneSpace also envisions to eventually develop a crewed space capsule.[34]

Marketplace

OneSpace is in competition with several other Chinese space rocket startups, being LandSpace, LinkSpace, ExPace,[35] i-Space, Galactic Energy, and Deep Blue Aerospace. Space Pioneer is a Chinese liquid-propellant rocket startup competing in the sector.[36]

Financing

OneSpace secured $43.6 million in series B funding in August 2018.[37] The financing was led by CICC Jiatai Equity Fund, followed by FinTrek Capital, with China Merchants Venture Capital, Qianhai Wande Fund and Qianhai Wutong M&A Fund also increasing their investment in the company. This fourth round of financing takes the total raised since the founding of OneSpace in August 2015 to $116 million.

See also

References
  1. Michelle Wheeler (14 July 2017). "Is China The Next Space Superpower?". Particle (Australia).
  2. "OneSpace 零壹空间".
  3. Helen Roxburgh (21 November 2017). "China's Space Industry: Arriving At the Final Frontier". CKGSB Knowledge.
  4. Henri Kenhamn (2017). "LandSpace : le futur SpaceX chinois" (in French). East Pendulum.
  5. "shenzhen subsidiaries introduction".
  6. "Onespace recruitment".
  7. Clay Dillow (28 March 2017). "China's secret plan to crush SpaceX and the US space program". CNBC.
  8. Andrew Jones (17 January 2018). "Chinese commercial rocket company OneSpace set for debut launch in June". GBTIMES.
  9. Michelle Toh; Serenitie Wang (17 May 2018). "OneSpace launches China's first private rocket". CNN.
  10. "关于我们 | OneSpace 零壹空间". www.onespacechina.com (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  11. "Chinese companies OneSpace and iSpace are preparing for first orbital launches". 2019-01-24.
  12. "Chinese startup One Space successfully tests first stage engine for orbital rocket | SpaceTech Asia". SpaceTech Asia. 2018-07-05. Retrieved 2018-07-16.
  13. "China launches first rocket designed by a private company". Reuters. 17 May 2018.
  14. China Central Television (17 May 2018). "OneSpace OS-X0 launch - China's first private rocket (OS-X 重庆两江之星)". SciNews. YouTube.
  15. Tim Fernholz (17 May 2018). "A Chinese firm says it launched the country's first privately built rocket". Quartz.
  16. Zhou Xin (23 December 2017). "Chinese start-up tests rocket engine". Xinhua. Archived from the original on December 23, 2017.
  17. "Chinese startups OneSpace, iSpace succeed with suborbital launches - SpaceNews.com". SpaceNews.com. 2018-09-07. Retrieved 2018-09-10.
  18. "零壹空间成功实施某空间再入试验任务" [Zero One Space successfully implemented a space reentry test mission] (in Chinese). 5 February 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  19. "Chinese commercial rocket company OneSpace set for debut launch in June". GBTIMES. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  20. M series first-stage main rocket motor has been tested successfully on 4th of July.
  21. "OS-M1 | OneSpace 零壹空间". www.onespacechina.com (in Chinese (China)). Archived from the original on 2018-05-14. Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  22. "OneSpace". Twitter. Retrieved 2019-01-02.
  23. "Chinese private firm OneSpace fails with first orbital launch attempt". SpaceNews.com. 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  24. "OS-M (Chongqing SQX)".
  25. "OneSpace suffers maiden launch failure with its OS-M1 rocket". 27 March 2019.
  26. "OneSpace fails with first orbital launch attempt | One Space Tech".
  27. "Space Launch Report".
  28. "OS-M | One Space Tech".
  29. Huang, Echo (27 March 2019). "A Chinese private space company's satellite launch has failed". Quartz. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  30. Clark, Stephen. "Chinese startup OneSpace fails in first orbital launch attempt – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved 2019-04-12.
  31. "Maiden launch of OneSpace OS-M rocket fails". 27 March 2019.
  32. "OS-M2 | OneSpace 零壹空间". www.onespacechina.com (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  33. "OS-M4 | OneSpace 零壹空间". www.onespacechina.com (in Chinese (China)). Retrieved 2018-05-20.
  34. Jeffrey Lin; P.W. Singer (22 April 2016). "Watch Out SpaceX: China's Space Start Up Industry Takes Flight". Popular Science.
  35. Doug Messier (20 December 2017). "EXPACE Raises $182 Million for Small Satellite Launchers". Parabolic Arc.
  36. Jones, Andrew (27 July 2021). "Chinese rocket company Space Pioneer secures major funding ahead of first launch". SpaceNews. Retrieved 27 July 2021.
  37. "Chinese rocket maker OneSpace secures $44m in funding; Expace prepares for commercial launch". 14 August 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.