Chinese Commercial Rocket Successfully Puts 3 Satellites in Orbit

A rocket company in china has successfully launched its very first rocket carrying three satellites into a sun synchronous orbit. The rocket named Jielong-1, (also called as Smart Dragon-1) was developed by China Rocket Co. Ltd, which is one of the subsidies of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The Smart Dragon-1 signals the success of China’s commercial launch industry. This launch comes on the heels of another launch by a private Chinese company called iSpace, achieving the country’s first private launch.

The payload consisted of the Qiansheng-1, which is a remote sensing, communication and navigation satellite developed by a private manufacturer named Beijing Qianshen Exploration Technology Co. Ltd. Furthermore, the payload also consisted of an Internet of Things (IoT) connectivity technology satellite named Tianqi-2, developed by a firm named Beijing GuodianGaoke Technology Co. Ltd., and a satellite named Xingshidai-5 developed jointly by Beijing Weina Star Technology Co., Ltd., and Chengdu Guoxing Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd.

This launch represents a milestone in the Chinese private aerospace industry as the Chinese government moves to establish collaboration between state run agencies and private corporations in an effort to bolster innovation in the industry.

The Smart Dragon-1 is a small rocket weighing 23 metric tons and measuring about 20 meters in height and 1.2 meters in diameter. Collaborations and contracts between government and private aerospace corporations is an excellent way to accelerate innovation in the rapidly emerging and massively competitive space market.