Featured image credit: Galactic Energy
Lift Off Time | December 07, 2021 – 04:12 UTC | 12:12 BJT |
|---|---|
Mission Name | Golden Bauhina 1-03, a technology demonstration satellite |
Launch Provider | Galactic Energy |
Customer | Lingzhong Kongjian Jishu (Beijing Zero G Lab) |
Rocket | Ceres-1 |
Launch Location | Site 95, Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China |
Payload mass | Unknown, no more than 350 kg |
Where is the satellite going? | Unknown low-Earth orbit |
Will they be attempting to recover the first stage? | No, Ceres-1 is not capable of recovery |
Where will the first stage land? | It will crash into mainland China |
Will they be attempting to recover the fairings? | No, Ceres-1 is not capable of recovery |
Are these fairings new? | Yes |
How’s the weather looking? | Unknown; China does not provide weather data to the public |
This will be the: | – 2nd Ceres-1 launch – 1st Ceres-1 launch of 2021 – 122nd orbital launch attempt of 2021 |
Where to watch | An official livestream is not expected |
What Does All This Mean?
Galactic Energy will launch the Golden Bauhinia 1-03 satellite atop the Ceres-1 rocket to an unknown low-Earth orbit. The Golden Bauhinia 1-03 satellite (also called Jinzijing 1-03) is a follow up to the Golden Bauhinia 1-01 and 1-02 missions, which both launched on a Long March 6 rocket in April of this year.
Golden Bauhinia 1-03 Mission
Like most Chinese launches, little is known about the the payload. As the name implies, the Golden Bauhinia 1-03 satellite is the third Golden Bauhinia and the first launched by the Ceres-1 launch vehicle. The previous two satellites were launched on May 27, 2021 atop a Long March 6 rocket.
The Golden Bauhinia satellites are demonstration satellites, with the goal of verifying that observing ground targets is possible through visible light remote sensing. Each satellite is equipped with two solar arrays and batteries, which are presumably used power some form of attitude control. The satellites are developed and operated by the Beijing Zero G Lab (also known as Lingzhong Kongjian Jishu).
Ceres-1
The Ceres-1 is a four stage privately developed rocket that is built, manufactured, and launched by Galactic Energy. The first three stages of the rocket utilize solid rocket motors (SRMs), which burn hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), the same propellent that Virgin Galactic uses in their SpaceShipTwo vehicle. The fourth stage uses a hypergolic propulsion system, which uses hydrazine. The use of a liquid fourth stage allows for the payloads to be placed in accurate orbits.
The rocket stands 19 m (62 ft) tall and is 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) in diameter. This allows for the vehicle to play up to 350 kg (770 lb) into low-Earth orbit.
Ceres-1 is named after Ceres, the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt. This symbolizes one of the company’s main goals: asteroid mining.
Ceres-1 first launched on November 7, 2020, taking the Tianqi 11 satellite to a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The maiden launch of the rocket made Galactic Energy the second private company in China to successfully put a satellite into orbit, and the fourth company to attempt it.
