China successfully launches private commercial carrier rocket
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The launched balloon satellite and the BP-1B satellite were developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation and Beijing Institute of Technology, respectively, and will conduct a series of technical verification after entering the orbit.
A Chinese private company successfully launched its carrier rocket "Hyperbola-1" for the first time from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north China at 13:00 on Thursday, sending a balloon satellite and a BP-1B satellite into the pre-selected orbit.
The carrier rocket Hyperbola-1, the first orbital launch vehicle independently designed by Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Corporation, is a four-stage small solid launch vehicle sent with the vertical thermal emission method.
The rocket's maximum diameter is 1.4 meters, its total length is about 20.8 meters and the liftoff weight is about 31 tons. At an altitude of 500 kilometres in the sun-synchronous orbit, its carrying capacity is about 260 kilograms.
The launched balloon satellite and the BP-1B satellite were developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation and Beijing Institute of Technology, respectively, and will conduct a series of technical verification after entering the orbit.
The launch was the first flight of this kind of rocket and the third commercial rocket launch mission organized by Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.