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LinkSpace

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Link Space Aerospace Technology Inc.
LinkSpace
Company typePrivate
IndustryAerospace
Founded2014
FounderHu Zhenyu, Yan Chengyi, and Wu Xiaofei
Headquarters
BeijingEdit this on Wikidata
Websitelinkspace.com.cn

LinkSpace[1](Chinese:Linh khách hàng thiên[2][3];pinyin:Líng-kè Hángtiān;lit.'LINK Aerospace') orLink Space Aerospace Technology Inc.is aChineseprivatespace launchcompany 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]

Rockets[edit]

Test rockets[edit]

In 2013, before the official registration of the company, Hu's team was testing theKC-SA-TOPsuborbital rocket with 50 kg (110 lb) payloads inHorqin Left Rear Banner,Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.[5][6]

Reusable Rocket Landing[edit]

LinkSpace launched a new prototype for a reusable rocket in Eastern China. The launch took place on April 2, 2019.[7]

VTVL prototypes[edit]

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-T5flew 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]

New Line 1[edit]

TheNew Line 1(Xin Gan Xian 1;Chinese:Tân càn tuyến nhất hào;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 oxygenandkerosene), 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]

Future New Line rockets[edit]

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]

Services[edit]

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 transportanywhere around the world withStarship.[16]

Marketplace[edit]

LinkSpace is in competition with several other Chinese space rocket startups, beingLandSpace,Galactic Energy,ExPace,i-Space,OneSpaceandDeep Blue Aerospace.[17]With rocket reusability and point-to-point transport, it is similar toSpaceX.[16]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^"Trọng bàng! Trung quốc thành công trắc thí khả hồi thu hỏa tiễn [ thị tần ]"(in Chinese). DWNews. 9 January 2018.
  2. ^"Linkspace".
  3. ^Henri Kenhamn (2017)."LandSpace: le futur SpaceX chinois"(in French). East Pendulum.
  4. ^abc"In the Footsteps of SpaceX: Chinese Company Eyes Development of a Reusable Launch Vehicle".AstroWatch.net. 17 September 2017.
  5. ^ab"21-yr-old man sets up China's first private rocket firm".ANSA. People's Daily Online. 31 July 2014.
  6. ^ab"China's first private rocket firm aims for market".Space Daily. XNA. 19 August 2014.
  7. ^Tone, Sixth (2 April 2019)."Reusable Rocket Landing One Small Step for China's Space Startups".#SixthTone.Retrieved2023-10-17.
  8. ^"China's LinkSpace successfully launches reusable rocket to a new height".www.ecns.cn.Retrieved2019-04-22.
  9. ^"LinkSpace successfully launches reusable rocket prototype".Room, The Space Journal.Retrieved2019-04-22.
  10. ^LinkSpace on Twitter:On August 10, LinkSpace's third rocket free flight test was successful in Mangai, Qinghai province. The flight time is 50 seconds, the height of flight is 300.4 meters.
  11. ^China Spaceflight [@CNSpaceflight] (29 September 2022)."Five engines on display in their rocket assembly/test facility in Jiangyin, Jiangsu. But it seems the rocket has been covered by a layer of dust. It's also mentioned in the interview that the 100km test flight has been postponed to NET mid-2023."(Tweet).Retrieved29 September2022– viaTwitter.
  12. ^Jones, Andrew (6 May 2022)."LinkSpace returns: Chinese startup plans rocket launch and landing this year".Space.com.Retrieved1 June2022.
  13. ^ab"China's Link Space Unveiled Design for a Reusable Rocket".Futurism. 2017.
  14. ^"Breaking SpaceX: China's LinkSpace Reveals Rockets That Are Reusable".Wall Street Pit. 26 September 2017.
  15. ^Jeffrey Lin; P.W. Singer (18 December 2017)."China could become a major space power by 2050".Popular Science.
  16. ^abRich Smith (8 October 2017)."Is This Chinese Company the Next SpaceX?".Motley Fool.
  17. ^Doug Messier (20 December 2017)."EXPACE Raises US$182 Million for Small Satellite Launchers".Parabolic Arc. Archived fromthe originalon 4 December 2020.Retrieved16 January2018.

External links[edit]

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