China's Kuaizhou-11 (KZ-11) solid-fuel carrier rocket. Photo is courtesy of People's Daily Online.
China's Kuaizhou-11 solid-fueled carrier rocket will send six satellites into space in its first mission, according to the rocket's developer and producer, China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp (CASIC).
The company announced the news mid-week at the Third China (International) Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan, the capital of central China's Hubei Province.
The Kuaizhou-11 rocket will be launched via a mobile launch vehicle. With a lift-off mass of 78 tons, the rocket was designed to launch LEO and SSO satellites. Kuaizhou, which is Chinese for fast ship, is a low-cost, solid-fueled carrier rocket with high reliability and a short preparation period.
Globally, the launch cost of small commercial carrier rockets usually ranges from 25,000 to 40,000 U.S. dollars per kilogram of payload, according to a CASIC spokesperson. The spokesperson said Kuaizhou rockets are price competitive. The launch cost of the Kuaizhou-1A was less than $20,000 U.S. dollars per kg of payload, while Kuaizhou-11 rocket is less than $10,000 U.S. dollars.
In January, the Kuaizhou-1A rocket sent three satellites into space in its first commercial mission.
Article sourced from Xinhuanet.
