民營自研商業火箭(mínyíng zìyán shāngyè huǒjiàn): Self-designed private commercial rocket

China's first carrier rocket designed and produced by a private company was successfully launched at a site Southwest of Chongqing on Thursday.

The maiden flight of the single-stage, solid fueled Chongqing Liangjiang Star OS-X carrier rocket was very successful, according to OneSpace Technology, the company behind the rocket. All the important experimental data was received. The overall flight time was 306 seconds, and the flight distance was 273 kilometers.

The 9-meter-tall rocket weighs 7,200 kilograms and is said to be capable of placing 100-kilogram payloads into orbit 800 kilometers above the Earth.

The cost of getting payloads into orbit was comparatively high in the past, which means that the use of carrier rockets has been restricted to military and national security fields. The newly-designed privately-made commercial carrier rocket greatly reduces the cost of putting things in orbit, and could boost scientific research.

Shu Chang, founder and chief executive of OneSpace Technology, said he expects OneSpace to become one of the biggest small-satellite launchers in the world. The company expects to build 20 of the rockets by the end of the decade.