China's Lijian-2 carrier rocket demonstrated its readiness for commercial deployments, after taking on its first large-scale satellite internet constellation mission on Tuesday.
The Lijian-2 Y2 carrier rocket lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in northwest China at 08:15 Beijing time on Tuesday.
The rocket sent its payloads, a group of 18 satellites into the planned orbit.
This was the second flight of the Lijian-2 rocket. On its maiden flight on March 30, the rocket tested several key technologies and sent the Qingzhou prototype cargo spacecraft into orbit.
This time, the mission is aimed at the large-scale build-out of low-Earth-orbit satellite internet constellations. Besides placing 18 satellites precisely into orbit, the rocket also has to prove it can carry out commercial launches reliably and deliver on schedule.
"We often say the maiden flight verified whether it could fly, while Lijian-2 Y2 verified whether it can fly in batches and deliver reliably. Once this step is taken, we can say Lijian-2 has become a true commercial launch vehicle that can operate at commercial scale. It is a qualitative change," said Yang Haoliang, chief commander and chief designer of the Lijian-2 carrier rocket at CAS Space Technology Co., Ltd.
The Lijian-2 is China's first launch vehicle to feature the common booster core configuration. Three identical common cores can be combined like building blocks, which increases payload capacity while facilitating mass production and reducing costs.
In addition to deploying satellite internet constellations, the rocket is also intended for future missions such as low-cost cargo transportation to the space station.
"Our rockets must be developed toward three goals: high payload capacity, low cost, and high launch frequency. The Lijian-2 rocket is being developed precisely with these three targets in mind. It has a payload capacity of 12 tonnes to low Earth orbit and 8 tonnes to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit," said Lian Jie, deputy chief designer of the Lijian-2 carrier rocket at CAS Space Technology Co., Ltd.
China's Lijian-2 rocket steps toward commercial launches
