Chinese rocket company OneSpace and the trip to the launch pad



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In February 2018, the Falcon Heavy made its stunning debut in the Kennedy Space Center's 39A launch pad. 100 days later, across the Pacific Ocean, a truck carried a small rocket into a gravel desert in northwestern China as OneSpace geared up for its first launch.

The suborbital rocket Chongqing Liangjiang Star aimed to break through what is described as the first launch of a privately developed private Chinese rocket.

The 26-minute documentary below from China Central Television (CCTV) was linked by the Twitter account LaunchStuff and gives an overview of the company's journey to launch, starting with a glance at SpaceX.

It shows work on rocket 9 meters and 7 tons, assembly tests, the dangers of working with what is essentially a missile and filled with solid propellant, the emergence of China's commercial space sector and the way the founder from OneSpace, Shu Chang, opportunity to enter the launch sector.

After describing the flight to secure the large investment required, engine firing tests and design decisions and other technical obstacles such as guidance, navigation and control are detailed before launch.

A behind-the-scenes look at OneSpace, a private Chinese rocket company, and its challenging journey to its first suborbital launch earlier this year.

Takeoff for private area

Space Exploration Technologies Corp, or SpaceX, was founded in 2002 and fought to gain a foothold in the launcher market. Although near ruin, the company has transformed the sector, providing access to the economic and reliable space with the Falcon 9 and owns the world's largest active rocket with the Falcon Heavy.

SpaceX's success has been felt around the world and in November 2014, the Chinese government took the initiative to open launch services and small satellites to private capital to foster creation. new capabilities, technologies and ideas.

Support for the traditional space sector takes the form of access to technology and launching authorization.

OneSpace is one of four well-known Chinese launch companies alongside Landspace, Linkspace and iSpace, resulting from this policy change (other companies such as S-Motor, JiuZhou YunJian and SpaceTrek are also working on background) and seek to make their own mark. Expace, established in part by a state missile supplier, will also be involved.

The estimate of successful companies or markets for these players is complex and includes many invisible variables. Initially, they will have to fight for commercial launches, with government and military launches being monopolized by the China Aerospace Science and Technology (CASC) state corporation.

It will be fascinating, however, to see how China's nascent private sector is developing.

Animation showing video footage captured by the Jilin-1 commercial satellite from the launch of the OneSpace OS-X1 suborbital rocket since Jiuquan on September 7, 2018.

Animation showing video footage captured by the Jilin-1 commercial satellite from the launch of the OneSpace OS-X1 suborbital rocket since Jiuquan on September 7, 2018. Sina Weibo / CGST

Andrew Jones

Andrew Jones
covers the rapidly expanding Chinese space program, including exploration, space science, politics, launches, manned spaceflights, etc.

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