Gravity-1

Gravity-1 (Chinese: 引力一号 or YinLi-1) is a solid-propellant expendable medium-lift launch vehicle designed, manufactured and launched by Chinese aerospace company Orienspace. It can carry a payload of up to 6.5 tonnes (14,000 lb) to LEO or 4.2 tonnes (9,300 lb) to SSO, enabling the deployment of large-scale satellite constellations. The rocket has a height of 30 meters (98 ft), a take-off weight of 400 tonnes (880,000 lb), a take-off thrust of 600 tonnes (1,300,000 lb), and a fairing diameter of 4.2 meters (14 ft). Its maiden launch was conducted from a sea launch platform in the Yellow Sea on January 11, 2024, breaking records as both the world's most powerful solid-fuel carrier rocket and China's most powerful commercial launch vehicle to date. Large pieces of debris were seen during the launch, which carried 3 Yunyao-1 meteorological satellites built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, as part of the planned 90-satellite Yunyao constellation. Gravity-1 consists of seven solid rocket motors (SRB) in total. The first four side-mounted SRBs are ignited on the ground, while three core boosters are air-lit in sequence. The launch cost for Gravity-1 is around US$39 million. Gravity-1 has a quick-response-time of only five hours between manufacturing completion and launch. Orienspace has signed contracts for the launch of more than one hundred satellites. Gravity-1 is the most powerful rocket consisting of entirely solid-rocket motors. Due to the huge solid rocket motors, large plumes of smoke were produced during the launch.