China's commercial space company CAS Space successfully debuted its Kinetica 2 carrier rocket on Monday, launching from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and placing the New March 02 experimental cargo spaceship and two satellites into preset orbits. The mission marks the first use of a commercial rocket in China's manned space program.
Beijing-headquartered CAS Space launched the Kinetica 2 rocket at 7 p.m. on Monday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China. The 53-meter-tall medium-lift liquid-fuel rocket, with a liftoff weight of 625 tons and maximum thrust of 753 tons, can carry 8 tons to a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit or 12 tons to a 200-km low-Earth orbit.
The rocket deployed the New March 02 experimental cargo spaceship, weighing 4.2 metric tons and designed by the Shanghai-based Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for three years in orbit; the New March 01 technology demonstration satellite; and the TS 01 educational satellite.
Kinetica 2 project manager Yang Haoliang said the rocket offers mission planners a new option for cargo delivery to the Tiangong space station, serving as a backup to the Tianzhou vessels. "They now have at least two types of launch vehicles... which gives more flexibility," he said. This was CAS Space's 12th orbital mission and the first commercial rocket in China's manned space efforts.
Deputy chief designer Lian Jie noted plans to recover the first-stage core booster and two side boosters in future flights as a single unit. The company aims for 20 annual Kinetica 2 rockets from its Shaoxing super factory. Its non-recoverable launch cost per kilogram matches SpaceX's Falcon 9, potentially halving with reusability, and a Kinastra 1 upper stage is slated for debut this year.
