China has made a historic launch: Gravity-1, the most powerful solid rocket, conquers space
On January 11, China successfully launched a new Gravity-1 rocket created by the Chinese company Orienspace. A massive rocket was launched from the deck of a ship in the Yellow Sea.
Gravity-1 can deliver about 6,500 kg of payload to low Earth orbit. It became China’s most powerful commercial rocket, as well as the most powerful solid-propellant launch vehicle ever to perform an orbital mission. The total weight of Gravity-1 is 405 tons, and the total thrust at launch is 600 tons. Previously, as a rule, China launched smaller missiles from offshore platforms.
As part of its first mission, Gravity-1 successfully launched its payload – three commercial weather satellites Yunyao-1 – into the planned orbit. The launch of Galaxy-1 was China’s fourth orbital mission this year. Recently, the country has increased the frequency of launches to an impressive level, with the private sector playing an increasingly important role. In 2022, China launched 64 orbital missions, and then broke this national record by launching 67 missions in 2023.
Orienspace is also developing several other rockets. The Gravity-2 version will have a liquid-fueled active stage and solid rocket boosters. The rocket is expected to be able to launch about 22.6 tons into low Earth orbit. The company plans to make the first launch of Gravity-2 in 2025. In addition, work is underway on Gravity-3, which will combine the 3 main stages of Gravity-2, just as Falcon Heavy includes 3 Falcon 9 boosters linked together. The payload of Gravity-3 will be about 30.6 tons.
For comparison, Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy can deliver about 25 tons and 70 tons of cargo to low Earth orbit, respectively.
