Over the weekend, China’s OneSpace startup launched a rocket from the Gobi Desert, and the entire thing was captured by a satellite orbiting 332 miles above Earth.
Watch this satellite footage of a rocket launching from the Gobi Desert
Another success for the Chinese private startup OneSpace, but no rockets have gone to orbit yet
Another success for the Chinese private startup OneSpace, but no rockets have gone to orbit yet
OneSpace was testing the solid-fueled booster of its OS-X1 rocket, according to the GB Times. The rocket took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre and eventually reached a suborbital altitude of 21.7 miles. The launch was filmed by China’s Jilin-1 satellite and then posted to Sina Weibo (“China’s Twitter”) and Twitter. (Similarly, last year, a satellite caught sight of a Soyuz launch in Kazakhstan.)
OneSpace is one of China’s few private spaceflight companies in an industry dominated by the government’s space agency. OneSpace CEO Shu Chang told state-run news outlet China Daily that he wants the company to be “one of the biggest small-satellite launchers in the world” and that it plans to perform 10 launches in 2019.
Back in May, OneSpace became the first private Chinese space company to launch a rocket. However, both of its tests have been suborbital. It plans to launch its first orbital flight later this year.
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