On October 11, according to the China Aerospace News, at 10:20 a.m. today, China's Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center used the Yilixiang No. 2 launch vehicle near Haiyang, Shandong, to successfully send the Jilin No. 1 Wide-format 02B07 satellite and the Shutian宇Xing 01-02 experimental satellites into the planned orbit, marking a complete success of the flight test mission.
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The Yilixiang rocket is the world's largest takeoff thrust solid-fuel launch vehicle, and also the first捆绑 configuration launch vehicle successfully launched at sea in China. Developed independently by Dongfang Space, it achieved a successful maiden flight on January 11, 2024, setting multiple records including the world's largest solid-fuel launch vehicle, the highest capacity commercial rocket in China, and the first捆绑 type commercial rocket in China.
This type of rocket adopts a three-and-a-half stage configuration, with a height of about 30 meters, a takeoff mass of 405 tons, a takeoff thrust of 600 tons, a low Earth orbit carrying capacity of 6.5 tons, and a carrying capacity of 4.2 tons for a 500 km sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). Among them, four types of seven solid large-thrust engines accompanying the rocket were developed by the Fourth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
The Jilin No. 1 Wide-format 02B07 satellite is an optical remote sensing satellite with high resolution and wide coverage developed by Changguang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. As the lightest ultra-wide format sub-meter optical remote sensing satellite in the world currently, the Jilin No. 1 Wide-format 02B series satellite can provide users with high-definition satellite images with a 150 km width and 0.5 m resolution, and has characteristics of batch production, wide coverage, high resolution, and high-speed data transmission.
The Yilixiang (No. 2) rocket launched this time has many internal improvements compared to the previous Yilixiang (No. 1) launch:
1. Its reliability, stability, and adaptability to various orbits and multiple launch points have been "significantly upgraded";
2. During this process, Dongfang Space has also built a quality and safety control system suitable for batch production, promoting the development of a talent team to support multi-model regular launches and agile development in parallel.
The success of this launch mission also brought some controversial discussions within the commercial aerospace field regarding its choice of power route. The core of the discussion focuses on why Dongfang Space chose solid rockets instead of liquid rockets, which are currently more mainstream.
Cost-wise, solid rockets are single-use, with each kilogram of launch cost being over 50% higher than that of recoverable liquid rockets, making them less suitable for the low-cost demand of future high-frequency networking; although Dongfang Space claims that it saves on fueling and has lower hidden costs, the industry is concerned about long-term cost control being unable to keep up with the competitive pace.
In terms of technical routes, global commercial aerospace mainly uses liquid rockets, with domestic usage exceeding 70%, as liquid fuels have high specific impulse, are reusable, and have great performance expansion space. Although Yilixiang enhances its carrying capacity through bundling, it still falls short of the planned liquid rockets, and some worry that the investment in solid rockets may divert R&D efforts from liquid reusable technologies, causing missed market opportunities.
In terms of scenario adaptation, solid rockets have advantages such as 24-hour rapid response and safe sea launch, but currently, 80% of commercial launches are for satellite networking, which requires low-cost large carrying capacity and less need for rapid response; emergency missions are mostly undertaken by the national team, leaving limited commercial space, and additional costs of sea launches are difficult to offset by solid rockets.
Certainly, Dongfang Space's choice is not simply a "solid-liquid debate," but rather a realistic choice for a civilian commercial enterprise in the initial stage of technological accumulation - solid rockets can quickly realize product landing by relying on mature military technology (the engine of Yilixiang is developed by the Fourth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation), and through a "three-step" strategy of "opening up the market with solid rockets and meeting future needs with liquid rockets" to complete technological iteration.
Whether this "transitional technical route" will be successful depends on whether its solid rockets can capture niche markets before liquid rockets mature, and whether the development progress of subsequent liquid models can keep up with industry trends. This is precisely the core of the controversy: In the commercial aerospace "cost reduction is king" track, is the strategy of "first establish a foothold then breakthrough" more feasible than directly targeting international advanced standards?
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