Jumping Chinese Grasshopper from LinkSpace
The Chinese private space company LinkSpace has built a test rocket stand for vertical take-off and landing, similar to the “Grasshopper” from SpaceX, and since January of this year it has been conducting increasingly complex tests. After the tests, the hang-up on the leash, the company moved to full-fledged jumps, rising to 20 meters on March 27, and 40 meters on April 19. And thanks to the progress in action cameras, we can look at these flights from the angles that were absent during the days of the Grasshopper Mask.
Shot from video onboard camera
Chinese private space company LinkSpace was founded in 2014. In 2017, they hit space news feeds, presenting the NewLine-1 rocket project using SpaceX ideas - vertical landing of the first stage on engines.
Slide sensational presentation
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Visually, the first step looked exactly like Falcon 9, including lattice steering wheels, folding supports and even coloring, which caused a lot of comments about copying SpaceX technologies. In fact, NewLine-1 will be much less, it is planned to install a different number of engines with a smaller burden, and it is more correct to say that LinkSpace was inspired by the SpaceX concept and realize the same method of ensuring multiple use, but on its technologies.
In 2016-18, the company conducted tests on a flying stand, which was a frame with tanks, even without external plating. As in any complex technique, there were failures, but by the beginning of 18, the stand had learned to rise and sit back without a leash.
Failed or why start with a tether test:
One of the last tests, the beginning of 2018.
For any serious flight, the first stand was small, so LinkSpace made a larger model RLV-T5, also called NewLine Baby. The new test bench has five engines, a height of 8.1 meters and a weight of 1.5 tons. At the beginning of the year, tethering tests were launched, which, judging by the time of transition to the next stage, were successful.
On March 27, for the first time, the device went to independent flight, rose to a height of 20 meters and made a soft landing at the launch site.
And on April 19, NewLine Baby successfully flew up to 40 meters. In addition to the usual footage from the drone, the rocket was a 360 ° camera, which allowed us to see the flight from an unusual angle.
Video in the best quality and with the music link
The video can not be distinguished mounting the camera, but it should be. Modern 360 ° cameras can cut mounts (or selfie-sticks) while processing the captured frames and create the complete illusion that the camera is flying next to a rocket.
The announced plans LinkSpace storming height of 1 km, followed by a soft landing in the second half of this year. This is comparable to the tests of "Grasshopper" from SpaceX, the first version of which rose to 744 m, and the second - to a kilometer. The first flight of the full-fledged NewLine-1 orbital rocket is scheduled for 2021. It is expected that the rocket will be able to take 200 kg to low Earth orbit, and the launch cost on LinkSpace was called 4.6 million dollars for the new rocket and 2.3 million for re-use. In 2017, only six people worked on LinkSpace, now there are already 20.
Shot from video onboard camera
Chinese private space company LinkSpace was founded in 2014. In 2017, they hit space news feeds, presenting the NewLine-1 rocket project using SpaceX ideas - vertical landing of the first stage on engines.
Slide sensational presentation
')
Visually, the first step looked exactly like Falcon 9, including lattice steering wheels, folding supports and even coloring, which caused a lot of comments about copying SpaceX technologies. In fact, NewLine-1 will be much less, it is planned to install a different number of engines with a smaller burden, and it is more correct to say that LinkSpace was inspired by the SpaceX concept and realize the same method of ensuring multiple use, but on its technologies.
In 2016-18, the company conducted tests on a flying stand, which was a frame with tanks, even without external plating. As in any complex technique, there were failures, but by the beginning of 18, the stand had learned to rise and sit back without a leash.
Failed or why start with a tether test:
One of the last tests, the beginning of 2018.
For any serious flight, the first stand was small, so LinkSpace made a larger model RLV-T5, also called NewLine Baby. The new test bench has five engines, a height of 8.1 meters and a weight of 1.5 tons. At the beginning of the year, tethering tests were launched, which, judging by the time of transition to the next stage, were successful.
On March 27, for the first time, the device went to independent flight, rose to a height of 20 meters and made a soft landing at the launch site.
And on April 19, NewLine Baby successfully flew up to 40 meters. In addition to the usual footage from the drone, the rocket was a 360 ° camera, which allowed us to see the flight from an unusual angle.
Video in the best quality and with the music link
The video can not be distinguished mounting the camera, but it should be. Modern 360 ° cameras can cut mounts (or selfie-sticks) while processing the captured frames and create the complete illusion that the camera is flying next to a rocket.
The announced plans LinkSpace storming height of 1 km, followed by a soft landing in the second half of this year. This is comparable to the tests of "Grasshopper" from SpaceX, the first version of which rose to 744 m, and the second - to a kilometer. The first flight of the full-fledged NewLine-1 orbital rocket is scheduled for 2021. It is expected that the rocket will be able to take 200 kg to low Earth orbit, and the launch cost on LinkSpace was called 4.6 million dollars for the new rocket and 2.3 million for re-use. In 2017, only six people worked on LinkSpace, now there are already 20.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/448884/
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