Here’s my latest infographic on Chinese commercial rockets and their engines. This should give a good idea of the new launch vehicles we can expect from China in 2023-2025.
A quick thread 🧵 First, a caveat on the infographic: I intentionally left out companies which haven’t given updates for a long time, the very stealthy ones, or the ones that have pivoted away from launch services. This includes SpaceTrek, OneSpace, Linkspace, SpaceTai…

#SpacePioneer seems to be the next Chinese commercial company to attempt a liquid-fueled launch.
A singular feature of their Tianlong-2 rocket is that it can launch from any flat concrete surface: a TEL transports & erects the rocket, and tanker trucks provide propellant on-site. While this is unique among Chinese liquid-fueled rockets, it's worth noting that other companies outside of China are also testing this concept. For example, here's a diagram from @ablspacesystems' RS1 launch vehicle user guide where a TEL and tanker trucks are also employed.

#Landspace is going to attempt the launch of the ZQ-2 rocket (aka Zhuque-2). This is China’s 1st liquid-fueled commercial rocket, one of the first methalox-fueled rockets globally, and this could be a turning point for Chinese launch.
Let's recap the situation in a thread 🧵 First, some context: At least 15+ commercial launch companies have been formed since 2014.
Although this seems like a excessive number, a consolidation has not taken place (yet) as most companies are still early stage and supported by VC money & local governments.

Really insightful interview with the Co-Founders of Chinese asteroid mining and space debris mitigation company Origin Space, alumni of Harvard PhD and NASA fellowships respectively, Su Meng and Yu Tianhong. A short 🧵🇨🇳🚀☄️

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news.10jqka.com.cn/20211126/c6345… Origin Space calls themselves the first and only space resource mining company in China. The company has launched 3x spacecraft and 2x telescopic payloads, including NEO-01 spacecraft and the Zhangwang-1 space telescope, both of which are surveying for suitable asteroids

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Starting a quick thread to track the different engines on the #Tianhe-1 module of the CSS (feel free to comment if smth. is missing!)
Let's first start with the fact that Tianhe-1 is equipped with 30 thrusters, of which 26 are chemical thrusters, and 4 are Hall Effect thrusters. Most thrusters are situated on the non-pressurized propulsion compartment at the very back of the Tianhe-1: a compartment that has a diameter of 4.2m & a height of 2.1m. This area is literally full of propellant! Its dry mass is 487 kg, but weighs 4.3 tons once fueled up...