Tag: Space Pioneer
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Rocket Report: Firefly delivers for NASA; Polaris Dawn launching this month
Welcome to Edition 7.01 of the Rocket Report! We’re compiling this week’s report a day later than usual due to the Independence Day holiday. Ars is beginning its seventh year publishing this weekly roundup of rocket news, and there’s a lot of it this week despite the holiday here in the United States. Worldwide, there…
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China Roundup: Tianlong-3 static fire anomaly, Chang’e 6 sample return, and next-generation rockets
Throughout the last few weeks, several events in Chinese spaceflight have created international headlines. After launching a Chang Zheng 2C rocket that would later fall onto an inhabited village, a Tianlong-3 rocket was unexpectedly released during a static fire test and would crash in an area close to the launch site. However, not all of…
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Chinese space firm unintentionally launches its new rocket
One of the most promising Chinese space startups, Space Pioneer, experienced a serious anomaly this weekend while testing the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket near the city of Gongyi. The rocket was undergoing a static fire test of the stage, in which a vehicle is clamped to a test stand while its engines are…
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Chinese Rocket’s First Stage Detaches During Test, Lands Off-site
Beijing Tianbing Technology Co. reported on Sunday that a structural failure during a test caused the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket to detach from its launch pad and land in a hilly area near Gongyi city in central China. The incident, confirmed by Space Pioneer in a statement on its official WeChat account, did…
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Chinese Space Pioneer’s Rocket Test Ends in Catastrophic Failure
Chinese commercial space company Space Pioneer suffered a major setback on Sunday when a test firing of its Tianlong-3 launch vehicle’s first stage ended in a dramatic explosion at a facility in Gongyi county, Henan province. The intended static-fire test, designed to assess the first stage’s readiness for orbital flight, went awry as amateur footage…
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Space Pioneer Secures $207 Million for Reusable Rocket, Targets Megaconstellation Contracts
Chinese commercial space company Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology Co., Ltd, has announced a successful funding round worth more than 1.5 billion yuan ($207 million) on June 6. This investment, termed “C+,” involves at least 15 investors, including private equity and state-linked investment entities. The funding will primarily support the development and…
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China Roundup: ZhuQue-3 moves left, Tianlong-3 gets engines, and Chang Zheng rockets launch
China’s upcoming and already operational startup aerospace companies are showing significant progress as of late. Both Tianlong-3 and ZhuQue-3 (ZQ-3) are getting closer to flight, while governmental rockets currently carry the payloads. Additionally, three more rockets of the Chang Zheng family have been launched in the last few weeks. LandSpace progresses ZhuQue-3 and moves maiden…
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Chinese Tianlong-2 successfully debuts from Jiuquan
The Tianlong-2 rocket by Space Pioneer successfully performed its debut flight on April 2 and 08:48 UTC. In a rare occurrence, the company’s first orbital flight performed well, reaching its targeted orbit. The launch was conducted at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. This launch makes Tianlong-2 the first RP-1-based private rocket from China…
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LandSpace readies for second flight of ZhuQue-2 amid launch salvo
LandSpace has confirmed that the second methane-based ZhuQue-2 is fully assembled as the company gears up for its second launch campaign. After the initial first flight failure, this could mean a second attempt to get a methane-fueled rocket to orbit is approaching. While the debut flight of Tianlong-2 is slipping into April, China still launched…
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Commercial rockets spotted amidst Chinese launch tripleheader
China is starting to increase its launch cadence again after a slow start to 2023. This week saw three launches in the Chang Zheng family while several more non-Chang Zheng vehicles were spotted on launch pads at Jiuquan. Satellite Imagery of Jiuquan Recently published satellite imagery showed new Chinese commercial vehicles on multiple pads at…