China has just demonstrated to the world the quick turnaround launch capabilities of its new rockets on Sunday, with the launch of its light-class solid-fueled Kuaizhou 1A rocket. The launch happened just four days after the same type of rocket was launched into orbit from the same launch pad.
The weekend launch from the Jiuquan space center in the Inner Mongolia region of northwestern China over the weekend was meant to deliver two new microsatellites into two separate orbits around the planet. The payload was delivered by the country's new four-stage Kuaishou booster, which features a restartable kick stage that enables it to move between different altitudes in space.
China launched the rocket in its Jiuquan Space Center at exactly 5 am EST on Sunday, with the rocket flying towards the south and straight into polar orbit. The previous flight just four days prior, on the same location also used the same booster setup.
The first flight occurred on November 13, successfully delivering a commercial Earth observation satellite into orbit. The satellite was part of a planned feel of Earth-imaging spacecraft owned by Chinese firm Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co.
The two satellites that were on board the rockets launched on Sunday were "KL-Alpha" satellites that are part of an international cooperative commercial project. The payload onboard the rockets were developed through a collaborative effort between the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, and an unnamed German company.
According to local media reports, the purpose of the KL-Alpha satellites will be to conduct Ka-band communications tests in orbit. More detailed reports revealed that the satellites could be performing technology demonstrations for the Berlin-based firm KLEO Connect, which had announced plans to develop a fleet of microsatellites for asset tracking and data relay.
According to US military orbital tracking data, the two satellites were successfully injected into two separate orbits. One satellite was placed in a circular orbit around 1,050 kilometers above the planet, while the other was injected into an elliptical orbit with a peak altitude of 1,430 kilometers above the Earth.
China's Kuaizhou booster, which literally translates to "speedy vessel" in Chinese, was designed to be a system that can be readied for launch in the shortest amount of time possible. The technology used to develop the rocket was partly derived from the advancements in China's ballistic missile technology.
The booster is launched from a mobile transporter than is capable of moving from any location. The road-mobile transporter was used during the first launch four days ago, but it isn't clear if it was also used during Sunday's mission.
