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Kuaizhou KZ-1 quick-response launch vehicle

Kuaizhou 1 was reportedly a satellite for natural disaster monitoring. It will be used to monitor natural disasters and provide disaster-relief information for its user, the National Remote Sensing Center of China, a public institution under the Ministry of Science and Technology. The Kuaizhou-1 satellite was launched from Jiuquan by China's new Kuaizhou small quick-response launch vehicle on 25 September 2013.

The Chinese military plans the new solid-fueled Kuaizhou [“quick-vessel” might best be translated as "Clipper" or "Swift Boat"] launch vehicle to provide a rapid ability to replace Chinese satellites that might be damaged or destroyed by an American attack. The vehicle can reportedly place 400 kg into orbit.

In the domestic public publication "Journal of the Academy of Equipment Command and Technology" in the fifth issue of 2011, the outside world can roughly understand the development of China's "emergency space vehicle". The "Emergency Space Vehicle" was a new concept aircraft with fast integration, fast entry into orbit, and the integration of stars and arrows. Conventional space vehicles usually develop one, produce one, and launch one. The characteristics of an "emergency space vehicle" determine that it was the same as missile weapons, mass production, long-term storage, and one-time use.

In layman's terms, the concept of the "Quick Boat" is: when emergency tactical reconnaissance and communication services are required for specific targets, the launch platform on standby in a hidden area accepts launch orders, and the mobile launch platform carrying the star and arrow combination was used in tactical Moving to the scheduled launch position under cover, the star and arrow combination launches into the air and quickly enters the scheduled orbit. From receiving the order to putting it into use, the entire launch process only takes a few hours or days, while a regular launch takes at least 6 to 9 months.

The "Kaizhou-1" was jointly developed by Harbin Institute of Technology and China Sanjiang Aerospace Corporation (formerly the China Aerospace Ninth Institute in charge of electronic technology) in Xiaogan City, Hubei. Relevant information shows that in May 2010, Harbin Institute of Technology and the Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation jointly established 5 industrial technology joint laboratories including "Quick Response Aircraft". In February 2011, in the exchange materials of the Heilongjiang Provincial Science and Technology Work Conference, Harbin Institute of Technology mentioned for the first time that it had undertaken a number of major national scientific research tasks such as the "Quick Boat" during the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period.

The Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket, (formerly Feitian-1 ), was developed by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation on the basis of the original Kuaizhou-1 satellite and rocket integrated carrier. The general-purpose solid launch vehicle expands the length and diameter of the fairing, improves mission adaptability, and increases the space for carrying satellites while ensuring the carrying capacity. Kuaizhou-1A uses a mobile launch platform for launch. The overall design of the Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket passed the review of the Fourth Academy of Aerospace Science and Industry on July 29, 2016.

China Sanjiang Space Group (CSSG), which is located in central China's Hubei province, began the development of Kuaizhou-1 and Kuaizhou-2 in 2013 and 2014 respectively. To promote the commercial use of Kuaizhou rockets, CASIC Rocket Technology Co., Ltd., a commercial rocket development and launch company, was registered and established on 16 February 2016 in Wuhan, Hubei province, according to Wuhan-based CSSG. Kuaizhou-1 and Kuaizhou-2 have been signed to the newly established company. The company planned to develop more than 10 units of rockets, mainly targeting low-orbit small satellites, in the future. China plans to launch a video satellite of Jilin-1, the country's first domestically-developed remote sensing satellite for commercial use. The satellite was to be launched via Kuaizhou-1 near the end of 2016.

Gregory Kulacki noted that "According to a February 2013 Chinese press report on the Kuaizhou program, this new Chinese military space capability will be operated by the 2nd Artillery, the branch of the Chinese military that operates China’s land-based missile forces, including its land-based nuclear missiles. The February report indicates the Kuaizhou program calls for pre-positioning launchers and their attached satellites at various locations around the country. Should Chinese satellites used to provide imaging, communication and data relay functions come under attack during a time of war, the 2nd Artillery could launch small replacement satellites into orbit within a few hours.... China’s pursuit of an ORS capability suggests that maintaining Chinese space capabilities in a time of war may be more important to Chinese military strategists than U.S. observers and analysts normally assume."

Rui C. Barbosa reported September 25, 2013 that "Very little is known about the Kuaizhou rocket, other than it was developed by CASIC. No photos or graphics exist in the public domain." China Defense Mashup reprints without attribuation the Kulacki analysis, accompanied by what might be thought to be a photograph of the launcher - in this case, a DF-21C. Jonathan McDowell reports that "The solid fuel vehicle is thought to be built by CASIC in collaboration with the Harbin Institute of Technology and may be a derivative of the DF-21 family, like the failed KT-1 launch vehicle of 2002-2003." Norbert Brügge's amazing website has a photograph of the KZ-1 on the launch pad, suggesting a configuration consistent with the DF-21, though not the KT-1.

On November 11, 2014, the 10th China Air Show was grandly held in Zhuhai. In the aerospace museum, a variety of weapons and equipment appeared, causing widespread interest. China's first small solid carrier rocket with innovative features of low cost, rapid integration, and rapid entry into orbit, Feitian One ["Flying Sky"], made its debut. This rocket was mainly used to achieve rapid satellite launch and space deployment during disasters. Foreign media call it To develop China’s mysterious Kuaizhou satellite.

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation exhibited the Feitian-1 (FT-1) small launch vehicle. According to the exhibition board of the Science and Industry Group, the Feitian 1 carrier rocket will be launched using a mobile launch platform, which can provide launch services for small satellites of 300 kg or lighter at home and abroad. According to the model exhibited at this air show, the Feitian 1 carrier rocket uses an 18-wheel truck as the chassis of a three-purpose vehicle for transportation, erection, and launch, and it has mobile launch capabilities. The introduction of the Aerospace Science and Industry Group pointed out that the Feitian 1 rocket has the characteristics of simple structure, flexible maneuverability, and rapid launch. The rocket has a short production cycle, low cost, reliable operation, and high accuracy in orbit. It can be said that it was aimed at the existing large liquid Long March rocket’s weaknesses.

According to the staff, Feitian-1 was a three-stage solid first-stage rocket that can quickly launch small satellites and quickly deploy a network. In the case of a first-stage response, the satellite can be launched into the sky in as little as 4 hours. The launch vehicle was fast and convenient to launch, and has a low cost. It has been improved on the existing mature technology and has reliable performance. It was also hoped to be promoted abroad for commercial launch at the Zhuhai Air Show, which will further reduce the launch cost and better Customer service.

China can quickly replenish the lost satellites through the rapid-response satellite launch system and reverse the decline of the battlefield. Thus, China will develop a new generation of rapid response in space. The combat system has important strategic significance.

The Feitian launch vehicle at the 2014 Zhuhai Air Show had similar uses with the Long March 11 rocket, but it uses a conventional trailer and had no field maneuverability. This leads to a more demanding launch site selection, and the off-road chassis of the Long March 11 rocket can guarantee the vehicle was launched in the field, so the launch trajectory can be relatively better.

The grid rudder control technology was used for the first time in China, and it was China's first small solid launch vehicle with fast integration and fast orbit capability, creating the fastest record of China's space launch.

1. "Fast" means fast launch. Not only was the single launch time fast, the rockets and satellites can be launched less than a week after entering the field, but it can also be launched multiple times in a short period of time, and the same batch of launches can be organized. Generally speaking, these types of rockets are mostly solid launch vehicles, which can be launched in various ways such as underground silos, vehicle-mounted maneuvers, simple towers, etc., and can even be launched from strategic missile nuclear submarines, which can get rid of the dependence on large satellite launch bases. It was reported that for the launch of the Kuaizhou-2 satellite, the user requires the team to successfully launch it within the specified number of days to prove that Kuaizhou was worthy of its name. There was no precedent for the short time. The chief designer said: "Rapid launch is included in the assessment. If it is not completed within the specified time, even if the final launch is successful, it will not be considered as a completion of the task."
2. "Much" means more load capacity, and generally one ton of small satellite can be launched into orbit. For nanosatellites smaller than 10 kilograms, it was possible to "multiple satellites with one arrow", quickly launch various small satellites into orbit, and complete many tasks including emergency communications, emergency navigation, and emergency reconnaissance.
3. "Good" means good results. The world’s nuclear powers have a large number of medium- and long-range solid and liquid ballistic missiles, many of which have reached or are close to the time of retirement. They are either disassembled or tested randomly. If it can be transformed into a space rapid launch system to launch satellites, it can not only test the technical performance, but also provide a new commercial launch platform.
4. "Saving" means saving money. A regular large-scale launch vehicle requires at least US$50 million per launch. If the “low-cost” “small launch vehicle” can be launched with small payloads, especially the “waste utilization” of decommissioned missiles, this will not only reduce launch costs, but also It can be described as the best of both worlds by saving some countries a large amount of additional cost of destroying missiles.
5. "Light" means small weight. To be "faster", it must be "lighter". For this reason, the R&D team of Aerospace Science and Industry boldly proposed to reduce the size and weight of the safety mechanism to one-fifth of the existing products, which was almost "crazy". , The team members carried out nearly 50 tests and debugging, and finally realized the upgrade of technology and materials, and obtained a national defense patent. According to the assessment by an expert group composed of eight academicians including Bao Weimin and Long Yinhao, the carrier coefficient of the "Kaizhou" rocket has reached the international leading level.

In the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, the road traffic between the disaster area and the outside world was blocked, and the traditional ground communication was completely interrupted. However, the space communication monitoring system at that time was unable to quickly give the disaster area, casualties and various types of features in the disaster area, providing information for disaster assessment and disaster relief decision-making. The basis was even harder to mention. "It would be great if there were a pair of'sky eyes' that could see the disaster area clearly!" This has become the voice of the people and was also remembered by the aerospace science and engineering researchers. Five years later, on September 25, 2013, the "Kaizhou-1" test satellite was successfully launched in Jiuquan. "Kaizhou" made the country's rapid deployment of "Sky Eye" a reality, earthquake relief, emergency support, and environmental monitoring From the moment it enters orbit, the "Kaizhou-1" satellite has become one of the busiest satellites in space. During the Ludian earthquake in Yunnan in 2014, "Kaizhou-1" was the only satellite in my country that carried out revisiting and revisiting the disaster area for more than ten days. It successfully acquired 75 remote sensing images of the earthquake area with high resolution, totaling 75 scenes in total. 56.34GB, all of which were distributed online to all relevant business units at the first time, providing strong support for earthquake disaster monitoring and disaster assessment.

The image data obtained by "Kaizhou-1" were initially applied in the agricultural monitoring of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. In addition, the distribution of small coal mines and small oil refineries, snowmelt floods, sensitive infrastructure and regional and environmental pollution sources are all within the monitoring scope of "Kaizhou No. 1". They are obtained through geographic environmental information to provide information for meteorological and environmental monitoring departments.

In September 2013, as soon as the "Kaizhou-1" satellite arrived in space before it had time to orbit the earth a few times, it received a mission from the National Remote Sensing Center of the Ministry of Science and Technology: to image the earthquake-stricken area in Balochistan, Pakistan. Provide support for disaster relief. A month later, it provided support for the disaster assessment of the earthquake area in Hualien, Taiwan, and opened the way for humanitarian relief.

On February 16, 2016, the Fourth Academy of Aerospace Science and Industry registered and established Aerospace Science and Industry Rocket Technology Co., Ltd. in Yangluo Economic Development Zone, Xinzhou District, Wuhan, Hubei in order to comply with the development trend of commercial aerospace. The main business is the rocket launch service in the commercial direction at home and abroad, especially the research and development, manufacturing, sales and service of the "Quick Boat" series of small solid launch vehicles. "Kaizhou-2" adopts the first international star and arrow integration technology, which can realize rapid integration, rapid testing, and rapid launch; it was the first in China to adopt grid rudder control technology, which was the first in China with rapid integration and rapid orbital capabilities. The small solid launch vehicle created by China created the fastest record for China’s space launch, which has expanded China’s space launch vehicle from a liquid launch vehicle to a solid launch vehicle, and initially formed the rapid response capability China urgently needs.

"Kaizhou-2" was the final battle of the corresponding projects of the National 863 Program, which was related to whether scientific research and technological innovation can be successfully transformed into engineering. "Kaizhou" has fulfilled the dream of rapid satellite launch of the Aerospace Science and Industry for more than 10 years, And also cultivated a new force to prop up the national sky - China's first space rapid response equipment development team.

The KZ-1A launch vehicle (KZ-1A) has a "three-stage solid power + final stage liquid boost" tandem layout, with a total length of 19.5m, a take-off mass of about 30t, and a fairing diameter of 1.4m. Depending on the launch orbit, it can launch objects weighing 200kg~300kg to the sky (the volume parameters are not found, but there should be restrictions). The biggest feature of the Kuaizhou series of rockets is that they are fast. They once set a high-speed record of two consecutive launches within 6 hours.

The price is very competitive internationally. There are more than a dozen orders in the past two years alone. According to Xinhuanet, in international commercial launches, small-scale launches are generally quoted at US$25,000 to US$40,000 per kilogram, while the price of "Kaizhou-1A" rocket is less than US$20,000, and the price of "Kaizhou-11" Less than 10,000 US dollars. In other words, for the launch service of a Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket, the normal selling price of a full load should be between 30 million and 40 million yuan based on the total weight of the carrier.

China's solid-fueled KuaiZhou-1A (KZ-1A) Y11 carrier rocket blasted off at 11:40 am on 13 November 2019 and successfully sent the Jilin-1 Gaofen 02A satellite into planned orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gansu Province. This was KZ-1A's second launch mission in 2019, the first time the KZ-1A has achieved multiple launches within one year and the fourth commercial launch of KZ-1A, maintaining a 100 percent success record of commercial launches, CASIC said.

Two global multimedia satellites were sent into planned orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on 17 November 2019. The two global multimedia satellites, KL-a-A and KL-a-B, was launched by Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A), a carrier rocket at 6:00 p.m. (Beijing Time). The two satellites are international cooperative commercial projects delivered by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. They are mainly used for the Ka-band communication technology test, and the user was a German company. KZ-1A was a low-cost solid-fuel carrier rocket with high reliability and a short preparation period. The rocket, developed by a company under the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, was mainly used to launch low-orbit microsatellites. The launch was the third mission for KZ-1A this year.

Successful launch of the Yinhe-1 by a KZ-1A rocket around 03:02 UTC 16 January 2020, at the Jiuquan space center. The low-orbit communication satellite uses the Q / V and Ka bands, to reach a bandwidth of 10Gbps.