CAS Space (Guangzhou Zhongke Aerospace Exploration Technology Co., Ltd.) is a Chinese commercial space launch enterprise founded in 2018 of mixed ownership, partially owned by the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Repub ...

. Originally started in Beijing, the enterprise is now headquarterd in Guangzhou, China, while its Beijing location continues to be its primary R&D center. The enterprise has constructed its dedicated launch pad and facilities at JSLC. The launch pad is considered the first launch pad in China built for commercial use. The enterprise has multiple subsidiaries including a Guangzhou-based company responsible for the operation of its aerospace technology & industry base and a Xi'an-based propulsion system company. The enterprise is purposed to materialize research projects from Chinese Academy of Sciences and is dedicated to space exploration, research and to be a

launch service provider A launch service provider (LSP) is a type of company which specialises in launching spacecraft. In 2018, the launch services sector accounted for $5.5 billion out of a total $344.5 billion "global space economy". It is responsible for the ordering ...

. The enterprise is currently developing the Kinetica (力箭) rocket family. The enterprise has a motto of "Go above and beyond", or "无畏向上无限可能" as it is publicized in Chinese.

Rockets

Kinetica 1

The company's first solid-fuel launch vehicle Kinetica 1 (Lijian-1, PR-1) is tall, in diameter and weighs . It consists of four all solid fuel stages. The Kinetica 1 is capable of lifting 1.5 t (1.65 tons) to SSO at an altitude of 500 km or 2 t (2.20 tons) to LEO. CAS Space conducted ground tests for the four-stage Kinetica 1 in November 2021. Its maiden flight was conducted on 27 July 2022, sending 6 satellites into SSO. It is currently the largest solid-fueled rocket in China.

Kinetica 1A, 2, 3, 3H

The enterprise has presented a roadmap including a

medium-lift launch vehicle A medium-lift launch vehicle (MLV) is a rocket launch vehicle that is capable of lifting between by NASA classification or between by Russian classification of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO).50t payloads" An MLV is between small-lift lau ...

Kinetica 1A (scheduled to enter service in 2022), a small-lift liquid-fueled reusable vehicle Kinetica 2, a medium-lift reusable vehicle Kinetica 3 with its heavier variant Kinetica 3H (2 boosters added), and a sub-orbital experimental vehicle Near-space Experimental Reusable Platform (NEXT-REP).

Space Tourism Vehicle

In August 2021, it was announced that CAS Space was developing a single stage

sub-orbital A sub-orbital spaceflight is a spaceflight in which the spacecraft reaches outer space, but its trajectory intersects the atmosphere or surface of the gravitating body from which it was launched, so that it will not complete one orbital re ...

space tourism Space tourism is human space travel for recreational purposes. There are several different types of space tourism, including orbital, suborbital and lunar space tourism. During the period from 2001 to 2009, seven space tourists made eight s ...

vehicle which is very similar to Blue Origin's

New Shepard New Shepard is a fully reusable suborbital launch vehicle developed by Blue Origin for space tourism. The vehicle is named after Alan Shepard, the first American astronaut in space. The vehicle is capable of vertical takeoff and vertical land ...

rocket. The vehicle, composed of a booster and capsule, would be powered by five Xuanyuan engines. An uncrewed demonstration flight is expected to occur in 2022, then a full-fledged unmanned suborbital flight in 2023, with tourism service to start in 2024. The vehicle under development is designated ZK-6.

References

Aerospace companies of China Space launch vehicles of China Private spaceflight companies Commercial spaceflight Commercial launch service providers Chinese companies established in 2018 {{tourism-stub