Chinese and World First

On Sunday, April 2, Chinese startup Space Pioneer (founded in Beijing in 2015 as Tianbing Technology) completed the first mission of its lightweight three stage Tianlong 2 (TL 2) launch vehicle, in an interim version.

The launch occurred at 8:48 a.m. UTC from the Jiuquan base, located in northwestern China, 200 km south of the border with Mongolia.

It placed a microsatellite dedicated to Earth observation, Jinta (8 kg), into a sun-synchronous orbit (478 × 496 km, inclined 97.4°).

Space Pionner is the first private company to successfully fly its first all-liquid-propellant launch vehicle - in this case using a kerosene (RP-1)/liquid-oxygen mixture - on its first try.

A recoverable launch vehicle

Tianlong 2 is a 32.8 meter high by 3.35 meter diameter launch vehicle.

It would weigh about 150 tons at liftoff.

It has a maximum payload capacity to low earth orbit of 2 tons.

Many entities of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Casc, appear to have contributed to the development of the launcher, including the three YF-102 engines that powered the interim first-stage version.

Eventually, Tianlong 2 is to be reusable : like the Falcon 9 of SpaceX, the first stage will return to earth vertically, thanks to a landing gear deployed shortly before ground contact.