HELSINKI — Chinese commercial launch firm Orienspace is aiming for a late 2025 debut of its Gravity-2 rocket following a recent first-stage engine hot fire test.
Orienspace announced July 8 that it had successfully conducted a hot fire test of a Gravity-2 first stage engine, including gimbal and valve system evaluations. The engine was gimbaled at various angles and frequencies during the test to evaluate control system response, the company said in a statement.
However, the company did not specify which engine was tested. Orienspace has been developing its own Yuanli‑85 kerosene-liquid oxygen engines, nine of which were to power the Gravity-2 first stage. However, the test footage shows an engine resembling the kerolox YF-102, developed by state space giant China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
If confirmed, this would suggest a pragmatic shift to an operational engine, at least in the short term until the Yuanli‑85 is qualified, likely at a cost in terms of payload capacity. The Yuanli‑85 is designed to produce around 100 tons of thrust, while the YF-102 delivers around 85 tons of thrust.
Orienspace did not indicate when the next test milestones are planned. A graphic accompanying the release states that the Gravity-2 rocket will achieve flight readiness by the end of 2025.
Two other commercial firms, Space Pioneer and CAS Space, have opted to use YF-102 restartable engines on their respective Tianlong-2 and Kinetica-2 launchers. CAS Space last month performed a first stage hot for the Kinetica-2, with a test flight currently expected around October.
Orienspace has conducted one orbital mission so far: the January 2024 sea launch of the powerful Gravity-1 solid rocket.
Gravity-2, meanwhile, is two-stage reusable liquid propellant launcher, standing 70 meters tall with a core diameter of 4.2 meters and a voluminous 5.2-meter-wide payload fairing.
The standalone Gravity-2 (if powered by nine Yuanli-85 engines as originally planned) can carry 21,500 kilograms to low Earth orbit (LEO) or 15,000 kg to 500-kilometer sun synchronous orbit (SSO). A variant with solid side boosters would be capable of sending 29,000 kg to LEO or around 20,000 kg to SSO.
China’s current most powerful rocket is the expendable Long March 5, capable of carrying around 25,000 kg of payload to LEO. Orienspace and its Gravity-2 joins a number of commercial and state-owned companies developing reusable rockets of a similar class.
CAS Space, Space Pioneer, Landspace—with its stainless steel Zhuque-3—and iSpace are all planning debut launches this year, while CASC’s Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) could debut a reusable variant of the Long March 12.
Orienspace was founded in 2020 by Yao Song and last year secured $83.5 million in funding.