“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, January 11 — Today, China's Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center used the Gravity-1 Yao1 commercial launch vehicle in the waters off Haiyang, Shandong, to successfully launch the Yunyao-1 18-20 3 satellites into the scheduled orbit, and the flight test mission was a complete success.

This is the first flight of “Gravity 1”. The first flight used a difficult sea launch, setting many records, such as the world's largest solid launch vehicle, China's most powerful civil and commercial launch vehicle, and China's first bundled civil commercial rocket. It marks significant progress in independent innovation of China's commercial launch vehicles, further enriching China's launch vehicle type spectrum.

▌A vital force for space transportation efficiently assists in the construction of medium- and low-orbit satellite networks

“Gravity 1” is an all-solid-state bundled three-level semi-configuration. As an all-solid launch vehicle, “Gravity 1” can use a “half-full arrow storage” method to form a capacity reserve, and can achieve rapid emergency launch within 24 hours as soon as possible. Under normal circumstances, a single launcher can guarantee a “once a week” launch mission, and by configuring multiple launchers, higher frequency launches can be achieved; the bundled configuration allows “Gravity 1” to use the height of a small rocket to achieve the carrying capacity of a medium-sized rocket, and at the same time adapts to maritime launch requirements.

The carrying capacity of “Gravity 1” is currently in the mainstream range of medium- and low-orbit satellite constellation launch capacity requirements. It can not only support the “One Arrow 30 Star” of 100 kg satellites and help the efficient progress of constellation networking, but also launch small cargo spacecraft and very large satellites weighing 3-4 tons.

In addition to its large carrying capacity, the “Gravity 1” also has a large loading space. The top of the rocket is equipped with a fairing with a diameter of 4.2 meters and a height of 9.3 meters. It is comparable to the fairing diameter of China's Long March 7 cargo plan used for space station transportation. It is currently the largest fairing in the domestic commercial space field, and can accommodate a larger number and larger number of satellites.

It is worth noting that as a medium launch vehicle with a capacity of 6.5 tons, “Gravity 1” achieved economies of scale in carrying capacity, and the unit launch cost was reduced by more than 50% compared to small rockets.

▌The commercial potential of private rocket companies is beginning to show Miha's participation in the tour, and the name Hailan Home is named

The “Gravity 1” launch vehicle was independently developed by Oriental Space (Shandong) Technology Co., Ltd. (“Oriental Space” for short).

According to Tianyancha data, Oriental Space was founded in 2020. Ningbo Xinghejia Enterprise Management Partnership (Limited Partnership) holds 52.5038% of Oriental Space's shares and is the company's largest shareholder. Shanghai Miha Tour Argo Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Miha Tour Argo”) holds 1.8293% of Oriental Space's shares. Miha Tour Argo is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Shanghai Miha Tour Network Technology. At present, the company has completed four rounds of financing, with a cumulative total of over 1.1 billion yuan. In addition to Miha Tour, Sequoia Capital, Jingwei China, and Lenovo Star (an early investment agency of Lenovo Holdings) are participating in the investment.

In addition, the rocket company's commercialization color is strong. “Gravity 1” is named after the clothing brand Hailan Home. The live video of the launch shows that the main body of the arrow is mainly painted white, the position of the arrow has a large “HLA House” coating, and the 4 boosters are also painted with “HLA”, the English abbreviation of Hailan Family (see image below).

▌Domestic commercial aerospace continues to break through the satellite internet industry and enter the fast track

Private companies are an important force in China's aerospace industry. According to statistics from Shanxi Securities, a total of 13 private rockets were launched across the country in 2023, with 12 successful launches, setting a new record for China's commercial space development in the past eight years. China's commercial space industry is entering a period of rapid development.

With the drastic increase in China's commercial space carrying capacity, the private space industry continues to iterate. Looking back at the progress of domestic private commercial rocket launches in 2023 —

On April 2, 2023, the Tianlong 2 Yao1 launch vehicle independently developed by Tianbing Technology successfully entered orbit, defeating the “curse” of the failure of the first liquid rocket worldwide; on June 7, 2023, the Zhongke Aerospace Power Arrow 1 Yao2 carrier rocket successfully launched the “One Arrow 26 Stars”; on December 9, 2023, the Blue Arrow Space Suzake-2 Yao3 launch vehicle became the first liquid oxymethane rocket in the world to successfully launch a payload into a designated orbit; on December 10, 2023, the Hyperbolic 2 hyperbolic rocket developed independently by Interstellar Honor verified that methane could be reused The second flight The test mission was successful, and the first domestic reuseable rocket flight was realized.

Huatai Securities said that with continuous breakthroughs in private rocket capacity and launch technology, China's satellite internet industry will enter the fast track of development.

Yongxing Securities said that with strong policy support, related companies have successively tested and made continuous technical progress, laying a solid foundation for constellation construction and satellite internet construction, and the commercial aerospace industrialization process is expected to accelerate further in the future. It is recommended to focus on suppliers related to rocket parts and materials: Sirui New Materials (rocket engine thrust interior walls), Parker New Materials (aerospace forgings), Aerospace Technology (conventional control products, measurement and control equipment), Chaojie Co., Ltd. (holding subsidiary Chengdu Crescent participated in the space rocket project), and Jiufeng Energy (space special gas).