Chinese rocket company Space Pioneer plans to launch a rocket comparable to the SpaceX Falcon 9 next year. June 25.

Tianlong-3 (“Heavenly Dragon-3”) is a two-stage kerosene-oxygen rocket with a reusable first stage. Space Pioneer’s web pages state that the rocket can lift 17 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit, or 14 tons of payload into a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. By comparison, the Falcon 9 Full Thrust can carry 22.8 tons of LEO in consumables mode.

Tianlong-3, 71 meters long, will be 3.8 meters in diameter. It will have a take-off weight of 590 tons and produce 770 tons of thrust. The first launch will be a one-off, but like the Falcon 9, Tianlong-3 is designed to be reusable. The first stage will be powered by Tianhuo-12 variable thrust engines, each producing 110 tons of thrust. The first stage is designed to be reused up to 10 times.

The rocket will provide China with significant new launch capabilities and will place LEO second only to China’s Long March 5B in launching payloads and being more versatile. The missile will also provide multiple launch capabilities to China if it is suitable for reuse.

Space Pioneer is one of the new entrants to China’s commercial launch market. Plans to take direct action to launch vehicles much larger than those developed by previous manufacturers reflect changes in the country’s perception of commercial launch capabilities.

The company said it plans to launch mass satellites for China’s Guowang LEO mega-constellation. The country’s main state space contractor, CASC, plans to increase production of the Long March 5B and Long March 8 rockets to launch the Guowang project.

Space Pioneer also has good financial backing. On February 15, the company announced that it had secured strategic “B+” and “Pre-C” funding rounds. The company says it has raised about 3 billion yuan ($438 million) since its founding in 2018. Some of these investors are state dependent.

The firm also announced plans for the Tianlong-3H, a triple-core version in the same style as SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, and the Tianlong-3M, a single nuclear rocket with a reusable spaceplane.

With its first launch in early April, Space Pioneer established itself as a major player, making the firm the first Chinese commercial enterprise to launch a liquid-fueled rocket into orbit. The Tianlong-2 rocket used CASC-developed YF-102 85-ton gas generator engines instead of Tianhuo’s own engines.

Specifically, the Tianlong-2 launch propellant mixture used coal-derived rocket kerosene obtained through collaboration with the 165 Academy of Aerospace Liquid Propulsion CASC. Despite China’s abundant coal resources, relatively limited oil reserves make coal use as rocket fuel attractive to the country’s booming space industry.

CASC states that developing rocket fuel from coal is a national strategic initiative. It is planned to create a capacity for the production of approximately 30,000 tons of products per year.

Meanwhile, Landspace, which carried out the first launch of a liquid-fuel rocket specially developed by China in December, is preparing for the second launch of metalox Zhuque-2. This launch from Jiuquan is expected next month. Landspace plans to make the rocket reusable.

Other reusable Chinese commercial missiles are under development. Galactic Energy plans to test Pallas-1 (5,000 kilograms to LEO or 3,000 kilograms to 700 km SSO) in 2024, Deep Blue Aerospace is developing the smaller Nebula-1 rocket, and iSpace is developing the metalox Hyperbola-2 .

China’s commercial plans suggest that launches this year could more than double from 2022. Jan Christensen, director of private sector programs at the Secure World Foundation, said, “If the planned 2023 launch rate is successful, this could open up opportunities to provide momentum for the deployment of China’s small satellite constellations.” said. Space News in February

This growth is complemented by the rapid launch of CASC, which plans to launch more than 60 launches this year. The country had 19 launches in 2015, and increased to 64 orbital missions in 2022.