Striving for LEO … This will be the first flight of Innospace's HANBIT-Nano launch vehicle, which is approximately 72 feet (22 meters) tall and 4.6 feet (1.4 meters) in diameter. The two-stage rocket is propelled by a hybrid propulsion system that consumes a mixture of paraffin and liquid oxygen. On its debut flight, the rocket will enter orbit at an altitude of about 300 kilometers (186 miles) with a batch of small satellites from customers in South Korea, Brazil and India. According to Innospace, HANBIT-Nano can lift about 200 pounds (90 kilograms) of payload into orbit.
A new record for rocket reuse. SpaceX's launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida on October 19 set a new record for reusable rockets. Ars reports. It was the 31st launch of the company's most popular Falcon 9 rocket. The rocket landed on a SpaceX recovery ship in the Atlantic Ocean and was returned to Florida for its 32nd flight. Several more rockets in SpaceX's arsenal are approaching their 30th launch. In total, SpaceX has more than 20 Falcon 9 boosters in its fleet on both the East and West coasts. SpaceX engineers are now certifying the Falcon 9 launch vehicles for up to 40 flights each.
10,000 and growing … SpaceX's two launches last weekend were notable for more than just the history of the Falcon 9. Hours after setting a new launch vehicle reuse record, SpaceX deployed a batch of 28 Starlink satellites from another rocket after liftoff from California. This mission allowed SpaceX's Starlink program to pass a major milestone. With the addition of satellites to the constellation on Sunday, the company has delivered more than 10,000 production Starlink spacecraft into low Earth orbit. The exact figure is 10,006 satellites, according to table by Jonathan McDowellan astrophysicist who skillfully tracks movements between Earth and space. About 8,700 of those Starlink satellites are still in orbit, and SpaceX is adding more every week.
China is on the verge of something big. Startup LandSpace is in the final stages of preparing for the first flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket and a potentially landmark mission for China. This is reported by Space News.. LandSpace said it completed the first stage of the first launch of the Zhuque-3 rocket this week. Zhuque-3 is the largest commercial rocket developed to date in China. It's nearly the same size and performance as SpaceX's Falcon 9, with nine first-stage engines and one upper-stage engine. One key difference is that Zhuque-3 burns methane fuel, while Falcon 9's engines burn kerosene. Specifically, LandSpace will attempt to land the rocket's first stage booster at a location below the launch pad, similar to how SpaceX lands Falcon 9 boosters on unmanned ships at sea. The first stage of Zhuque-3 will be aimed at a land site in an experiment that could pave the way for LandSpace to reuse rockets in the future.
