Galactic Energy () is a Chinese private

space launch Space launch is the earliest part of a flight that reaches space. Space launch involves liftoff, when a rocket or other space launch vehicle leaves the ground, floating ship or midair aircraft at the start of a flight. Liftoff is of two main t ...

enterprise flying the Ceres-1 and developing the

Pallas-1 The Pallas-1 ( zh, s=智神星一号) is a medium-lift orbital launch vehicle under development by Galactic Energy. It features seven new 40-ton variable thrust Welkin engines burning RP-1 and liquid oxygen ( kerolox) in its first stage. The fi ...

and 2

orbital rocket A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...

s. The company's long-term objective is to mine asteroids for rare metals and minerals.

History

Galactic Energy successfully conducted its first launch in November 2020 with a Ceres-1 rocket. Galactic Energy became the second private company in China to put a satellite in orbit successfully (after i-Space) and the fourth to attempt an orbital launch (after Landspace, OneSpace, and i-Space). On 6 December 2021, Galactic Energy launched its second Ceres-1 rocket, becoming the first Chinese private firm to reach orbit twice. In January 2022, the company raised $200 million for reusable launch vehicle development.

Ceres-1

Ceres-1 is a four-stage rocket, the first three stages use

solid-propellant rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses Rocket propellant#Solid chemical propellants, solid propellants (fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were u ...

motors and the final stage uses a

hydrazine Hydrazine is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a simple pnictogen hydride, and is a colourless flammable liquid with an ammonia-like odour. Hydrazine is highly toxic unless handled in solution as, for example, hydrazine ...

propulsion system. It is about tall and in diameter. It can deliver to

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

or to 500 km

Sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

. The first launch of Ceres-1 took place at 7 November 2020, successfully placing the Tianqi 11 (also transcribed Tiange, also known as TQ 11, and Scorpio 1, COSPAR 2020-080A) satellite in orbit. The satellite's mass was about and its purpose was to function as an experimental satellite offering

Internet of things The Internet of things (IoT) describes physical objects (or groups of such objects) with sensors, processing ability, software and other technologies that connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet or other comm ...

(IoT) communications.

Pallas-1 and 2

The Pallas-1 is a medium-lift orbital launch vehicle under development by the company. The first stage will have legs and grid fins to allow recovery by vertical landing (much like the SpaceX

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and payl ...

). The first launch is scheduled to take place in 2024. Pallas-1 is planned to be capable of placing a 5-tonne payload into

(LEO), or a 3-tonne payload into a 700-kilometer

sun-synchronous orbit A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

(SSO). An upgraded variant of the rocket, Pallas-2 ( zh, link=no, s=智神星二号), is currently under development. Using three Pallas-1 booster cores as its first stage, Pallas-2 will be capable of putting a 14-tonne payload into low Earth orbit.

Marketplace

Galactic Space is in competition with several other Chinese space rocket startups, being

LandSpace LandSpace Technology Corporation (doing business as LandSpace) is a Chinese private space launch provider based in Beijing. It was founded in 2015 by Zhang Changwu. LandSpace developed its first launch vehicle Zhuque-1, powered by solid-prope ...

LinkSpace LinkSpace ( zh, s=翎客航天, p=Líng-kè Hángtiān , l= LINK Aerospace) or Link Space Aerospace Technology Inc. is a Chinese private space launch company based in Beijing. It is led by CEO Hu Zhenyu, and founded as the first private rocket fi ...

ExPace ExPace (ExPace Technology Corporation), also called CASIC Rocket Technology Company, is a Chinese state-owned space rocket company, based in Wuhan, Hubei, China. Its corporate compound is located at the Wuhan National Space Industry Base space ...

, i-Space,

OneSpace OneSpace ( zh , s=零壹空间 , p= Líng Yī Kōngjiān , l= Zero One Space ) or One Space Technology Group ( zh , s= 零壹空间科技 , p= Líng Yī Kōngjiān Kējì , l= Zero One Space Technology ) is a Chinese private space launch group ba ...

and

Deep Blue Aerospace Jiangsu Deep Blue Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd. () is a private space launch enterprise founded in November 2016 by Huo Liang. The company is located in the Jiangsu province on the East coast of China. It is engaged in the reusability of rockets. ...

Launches

References

External links

* Aerospace companies of China Space launch vehicles of China Private spaceflight companies Commercial spaceflight Commercial launch service providers {{PRChina-company-stub