Watch the Launch

Demo Flight

Overview

Destination: Sun-Synchronous Orbit
Mission: Test Flight

Sun-Synchronous Orbit Launch Area 120 Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

First launch of the Tianlong-2 and first launch for the Chinese private company Space Pioneer. It carried a dummy payload and the iTaikong Science cubesat to SSO for technology demonstration and public outreach Earth observation purposes.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • April 2, 2023, 9:27 a.m.

Launch success.


Cosmic_Penguin • March 31, 2023, 9:11 a.m.

Rescheduled for April 2 per new NOTAMs.


Cosmic_Penguin • March 30, 2023, 2:45 p.m.

Launch apparently delayed with related NOTAMs cancelled.


Cosmic_Penguin • March 30, 2023, 12:42 p.m.

Launch window extended.


Cosmic_Penguin • March 28, 2023, 4:06 p.m.

Launch delayed per NOTAM cancellation and insider rumors.


Tianlong-2

Family:
Configuration:

Tianlong-2 is a medium-sized, 3 stage rocket powered by RP-1 and liquid oxygen, with payload capability of 2 tonnes to LEO and 1.5 tonnes to SSO. Tianlong-2 has a liftoff weight of 150 tonnes, liftoff thrust of 190 tonnes and initially uses 3 YF-102 expander cycle RP-1/LOX engines on the first stage each with a thrust of 63.3 metric tonnes. The second stage uses 1 TH-11 staged combustion RP-1/LOX with a thrust of 30.6 metric tonnes. 7 TH-11 engines will be used for the 1st stage of subsequent vehicles. The third stage uses 1 TH-31 NTO/MMH hypergolic fuel engine with 3000 N thrust and 8 x 150 N RCS thrusters. The Tianlong-2 is the first Chinese RP-1-fueled private orbital rocket to attempt an orbital flight.

Specifications
  • Stages
    3
  • Length
    32.8 m
  • Diameter
    3.35 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    3.35 m
  • Launch Mass
    150.0 T
  • Thrust
    1863.0 kN
Family
  • Name
    Tianlong-2
  • Family
  • Variant
  • Alias
  • Full Name
    Tianlong-2
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
  • Low Earth Orbit
    2000.0 kg
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
  • Direct Geostationary
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    1500.0 kg

Space Pioneer

Space Pioneer

(SP)

CEO: Kang Yonglai Founded: 2015 Successes: 1 Failures: 0 Pending: 1

Agency Type:

Space Pioneer is a Chinese private space launch company based in Beijing. It was founded in 2015 by Kang Yonglai.

WIKI

Related News

SpaceNews

China’s Space Pioneer reaches orbit with liquid propellant rocket

Space Pioneer has become the first Chinese private launch firm to achieve orbit with a liquid propellant rocket.

SpaceNews

China’s Space Pioneer reaches orbit with liquid propellent rocket

Space Pioneer has become the first Chinese private launch firm to achieve orbit with a liquid propellant rocket.

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

Launch Area 120


Falcon 9
Success
6 days, 8 hours ago
CSG-3
Space Launch Complex 4E - Vandenberg SFB, CA, USA

CSG-3 is an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Space Agency, part of a reconnaissance constellation using synthetic aperture radars operatin…


Long March 7A
Success
1 week, 2 days ago
Shijian 29 A-B
201 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

2 satellites officially described as for "demonstration of new technologies for spatial targets detection" purposes.


Long March 4B
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Tianhui 7
Launch Area 94 (SLS-2 / 603) - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

A satellite officially described as for cartography purposes, details TBD.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
1 week, 4 days ago
AIST-2T 01 & 02
Cosmodrome Site 1S - Vostochny Cosmodrome, Siberia, Russian Federation

A pair of Russian optical Earth observation satellites built by the Progress Rocket Space Centre for obtaining stereo images of the Earth's surface, …


Long March 3B/E
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
Fengyun-4C
Launch Complex 2 (LC-2) - Xichang Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

China's geostationary meteorological satellite program FY-4 (Feng Yun 4) is the second generation of chinese geostationary meteorological satellites.


Long March 8A
Success
2 weeks ago
SatNet LEO Group 17
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Soyuz 2.1a
Success
2 weeks ago
Obzor-R No.1
43/4 (43R) - Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russian Federation

Note: Assignment of payloads to this launch is uncertain. The Russian Obzor-R satellite is a planned X-band radar earth observation satellite desi…


LVM-3 (GSLV Mk III)
Success
2 weeks, 2 days ago
BlueBird Block 2 #1
Satish Dhawan Space Centre Second Launch Pad - Satish Dhawan Space Centre, India

AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…


Long March 12A
Success
2 weeks, 3 days ago
Demo Flight
Long March 12A Pad - Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, People's Republic of China

First test launch of CASC/SAST’s Long March 12A rocket, with a dummy payload. The rocket’s 1st stage attempted to land on a landing pad about 300 km …


HANBIT-Nano
Failure
2 weeks, 3 days ago
Spaceward
HANBIT Pad - Alcântara Space Center, Federative Republic of Brazil

Maiden orbital launch attempt for the South Korean start-up Innospace and its HANBIT-Nano small launch vehicle. Onboard this flight are five small sa…