 | |
| LinkSpace | |
| Company type | Private |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founder | Hu Zhenyu, Yan Chengyi, and Wu Xiaofei |
| Headquarters | |
| Website | linkspace.com.cn |
LinkSpace[1] (Chinese:翎客航天[2][3];pinyin:Líng-kè Hángtiān;lit. 'LINK Aerospace') orLink Space Aerospace Technology Inc. is aChinese privatespace launch company based inBeijing. It is led by CEO Hu Zhenyu,[4] and founded as the first private rocket firm in China.[5] The company was founded in 2014, by Hu Zhenyu, a graduate ofSouth China University of Technology; Yan Chengyi, a graduate ofTsinghua University; and Wu Xiaofei, a manufacturing expert. The company is registered inShenzhen.[6]
In 2013, before the official registration of the company, Hu's team was testing theKC-SA-TOP suborbital rocket with 50 kg (110 lb) payloads inHorqin Left Rear Banner,Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.[5][6]
LinkSpace launched a new prototype for a reusable rocket in Eastern China. The launch took place on April 2, 2019.[7]
LinkSpace has built flying vertical-takeoff/vertical-landing (VTVL) prototype test rockets, to develop its reusable rocket technology. By July 2016, it achieved hover flight with a single-engine thrust-vectored rocket. By September 2017, it had built three hovering rockets, tested inShandong Province.[4]
On 19 April 2019, the VTVL prototype test rocketRLV-T5 flew to a height of 40 m (131 ft) and landed safely after thirty seconds of flight.[8]RLV-T5, also known asNewLine Baby, is 8.1 m (27 ft) in length, weighs 1.5 t (1,100 lbs) and has five liquid engines.[9]
On 10 August 2019 the company reported a test flight reaching a height of 300 meters.[10]
On 5 May 2022, the company announced that it had conducted a static fire test of its RLV-T6 test vehicle in preparation for a 100 km (62 mi) altitude test flight in late 2022, but in September it was expected to be launched no earlier than mid-2023.[11] The rocket will launch fromLenghu, inQinghai Province.[12][needs update]
TheNew Line 1 (Xin Gan Xian 1;Chinese:新干线一号;pinyin:xīn gàn xiàn 1) is a two-stage rocket under development to launch microsats and nanosats, with a reusable first stage. It is to be a liquid-fuelled rocket, with a diameter of 1.8 m (5.9 ft), height of 20 m (66 ft). It would have a lift-off mass of 33 t (32 long tons; 36 short tons) and take-off thrust of 400 kN (90,000 lbf), allowing a payload of 200 kg (440 lb) to be lifted into aSun synchronous orbit (SSO) of 249–550 km (155–342 mi) high.[13]
The first stage would have four liquid engines, fueled bykerolox (liquid oxygen andkerosene), each producing 100 kN (22,000 lbf) of thrust.[14] It is projected to have an initial launch cost of $4.5 million, dropping to $2.25 million using a reused first stage.[13] As of the end of 2017, the main rocket engine has been tested over 200 times, and first launch was planned for 2020.[15][needs update]
Future development of a reusable second stage, in addition to the reusable first stage, is anticipated for in a future vehicle, such asNew Line 3.[4]
LinkSpace is planning to also be a transport and rocket services company, providing rocket parts, and transportation. As part of the transportation, it will not just send payloads into orbit, or on suborbital jaunts; it also plans to send packages fromone point on Earth to another point. This is similar to SpaceX's plan forsuborbital rocket passenger transport anywhere around the world withStarship.[16]
LinkSpace is in competition with several other Chinese space rocket startups, beingLandSpace,Galactic Energy,ExPace,i-Space,OneSpace andDeep Blue Aerospace.[17] With rocket reusability and point-to-point transport, it is similar toSpaceX.[16]
