Gravity-1 ( zh, 引力一号) is a

solid-propellant A propellant (or propellent) is a mass that is expelled or expanded in such a way as to create a thrust or another motive force in accordance with Newton's third law of motion, and "propel" a vehicle, projectile, or fluid payload. In vehicles, th ...

expendable

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 a small-lift ...

designed, manufactured and launched by Chinese aerospace company

Orienspace Orienspace Technology (Shandong) Co., Ltd (Orienspace for short) is a commercial aerospace enterprise in China founded in 2020. The company designs and manufactures Gravity Series launch vehicles and Force Series rocket engines. Background Orie ...

. It can carry a

payload Payload is the object or the entity that is being carried by an aircraft or launch vehicle. Sometimes payload also refers to the carrying capacity of an aircraft or launch vehicle, usually measured in terms of weight. Depending on the nature of t ...

of up to to

LEO Leo is the Latin word for lion. It most often refers to: * Leo (constellation), a constellation of stars in the night sky * Leo (astrology), an astrological sign of the zodiac * Leo (given name), a given name in several languages, usually mas ...

or to SSO, enabling the deployment of large-scale

satellite constellation A satellite constellation is a group of artificial satellites working together as a system. Unlike a single satellite, a constellation can provide permanent global or near-global pass (spaceflight), coverage, such that at any time everywhere on E ...

s. The rocket has a height of 30 meters, a take-off weight of 400 tonnes, a take-off thrust of 600 tonnes, and a fairing diameter of 4.2 meters. Its maiden launch was conducted from a sea launch platform in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

on January 11, 2024, breaking records as both the world's most powerful solid-fuel

carrier rocket A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...

and China's most powerful commercial launch vehicle to date. Large pieces of debris were seen during the launch, which carried 3 Yunyao-1 meteorological satellites built by the

Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) is a Chinese space agency and subordinate of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), it is referred to as ''The Eighth Academy'' of CASC. The agency was established in Augu ...

, as part of the planned 90-satellite Yunyao constellation. Gravity-1 consists of seven solid rocket motors (SRB) in total. The first four side-mounted SRBs are ignited on the ground, while three core boosters are air-lit in sequence. The launch cost for Gravity-1 is no higher than US$39 million. Gravity-1 offers a quick-response-time of only five hours between manufacturing completion and launch. Orienspace has signed contracts for the launch of more than one hundred satellites.

List of launches

References

Vehicles introduced in 2024 2024 in spaceflight {{Rocket-stub