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They launched China's largest reusable rocket. 8m tall, less than a meter wide from the images and it reached a height of just 300 meters. No orbit, no space, n

They launched China's largest reusable rocket. 8m tall, less than a meter wide from the images and it reached a height of just 300 meters. No orbit, no space, no payload. This is at SpaceX grasshopper levels, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper_(rocket) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper_(rocket) for comparison. DC-X and New Shepard also launched and landed vertically and that at far higher heights. The problem is not landing a rocket vertically, it is to launch a payload (recovery mechanisms mustn't eat up all the payload mass), make it back through atmosphere at supersonic speeds and still have means (or propellant left) to achieve a landing. It's a good step for the chinese space company LinkSpace but pretty much non-news for others in my opinion.

melling 7y ago
Guess we’re jaded, but if it happened 10 years ago... I found this Reuter’s story on the launch. Exciting, if they meet their goals. https://www.reuters.com/article/space-exploration-china-linkspace/update-1-chinese-space-startup-revs-up-for-reusable-rocket-race-idUSL4N256069 https://www.reuters.com/article/space-exploration-china-link... “The Beijing-based company aims to launch its next-generation RLV-T16 next year that will be capable of reaching an altitude of up to 150 kilometers, Hu said.” “LinkSpace previously told Reuters it hoped to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.25 million) per reusable launch.”
- mabbo 7y ago
  "Altitude" is a weird metric for rockets because going up is useless- you immediately fall back down. Achieving orbit requires a horizontal velocity many times higher than the vertical velocity achieved.
  - liability 7y ago
    They may well have provided more relevant figures which the reporter or editor failed to understand the value of and consequently emitted in favor of the figure that played to their "space is up" worldview.
hos234 7y ago
It is news because everyone else (Europe, Japan, Russia, India) have started RLV projects to catch up with SpaceX. And it shows who is moving fastest. No surprises that it's China. Just watch how long it takes for the rest to get to this stage.
_Microft 7y ago
The title of the submission was the same as the one of the article when posting ("China successfully launches largest reusable rocket"), therefore the explanation btw.

melling 7y ago

Guess we’re jaded, but if it happened 10 years ago... I found this Reuter’s story on the launch. Exciting, if they meet their goals. https://www.reuters.com/article/space-exploration-china-linkspace/update-1-chinese-space-startup-revs-up-for-reusable-rocket-race-idUSL4N256069 https://www.reuters.com/article/space-exploration-china-link... “The Beijing-based company aims to launch its next-generation RLV-T16 next year that will be capable of reaching an altitude of up to 150 kilometers, Hu said.” “LinkSpace previously told Reuters it hoped to charge no more than 30 million yuan ($4.25 million) per reusable launch.”

mabbo 7y ago
"Altitude" is a weird metric for rockets because going up is useless- you immediately fall back down. Achieving orbit requires a horizontal velocity many times higher than the vertical velocity achieved.
- liability 7y ago
  They may well have provided more relevant figures which the reporter or editor failed to understand the value of and consequently emitted in favor of the figure that played to their "space is up" worldview.

hos234 7y ago

It is news because everyone else (Europe, Japan, Russia, India) have started RLV projects to catch up with SpaceX. And it shows who is moving fastest. No surprises that it's China. Just watch how long it takes for the rest to get to this stage.

_Microft 7y ago

The title of the submission was the same as the one of the article when posting ("China successfully launches largest reusable rocket"), therefore the explanation btw.