Orienspace

Orienspace Technology (Shandong) Co., Ltd., operating as Orienspace, is a commercial space launch enterprise established in China in June 2020. The company was co-founded by Yao Song, who serves as Co-CEO. Before Orienspace, Yao Song founded and led Shenjian Technology, a deep-learning chip platform, which was later acquired by Xilinx. His background in technology and venture capital informs his vision of aggressively competing in the commercial space sector, particularly targeting the satellite internet constellation market.

The company's business model is centered on designing, manufacturing, and operating a series of launch vehicles to provide launch services for commercial and government clients. Revenue is generated through launch contracts, and Orienspace has already secured orders for the launch of hundreds of satellites. The primary market is the rapidly growing Chinese commercial space sector, with a focus on deploying large-scale satellite constellations for applications like global weather forecasting and satellite internet. The company operates an assembly, integration, and test center in Haiyang, Shandong Province, which supports its strategy of conducting flexible and cost-effective sea launches from mobile platforms in the Yellow Sea.

Orienspace's flagship product is the Gravity-1 rocket, which had its successful maiden flight on January 11, 2024. This launch set a record for the most powerful solid-fuel carrier rocket globally and the most powerful commercial rocket in China to date. Gravity-1 is an expendable, solid-propellant vehicle capable of delivering a 6.5-ton payload to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or 4.2 tons to a 500-km Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). Its design, featuring a core stage with four strap-on boosters, is optimized for the rapid deployment of multiple satellites, with a reported launch cost of approximately $5,000 per kilogram.

Looking ahead, Orienspace is developing the more powerful and partially reusable Gravity-2 rocket, with a debut anticipated around the end of 2025. Gravity-2 will feature a liquid-fueled, reusable core stage powered by nine Yuanli-85 engines and will have a payload capacity of 25.6 tons to LEO. An enhanced variant with solid boosters is also planned. The long-term roadmap includes the heavy-lift Gravity-3, which aims to support large-scale constellation deployment and lunar exploration missions.

Keywords: commercial launch, solid-fuel rocket, satellite constellation, launch services, sea launch, reusable rocket, space exploration, aerospace manufacturing, satellite internet, payload delivery