Private space launch startup Space Circling Secures $13.9 Million in Series A Funding
Chinese rocket engine startup Space Circling secures funding Chinese launch firm Space Circling has secured more than 100 million yuan ($13.9 million) in funding to back its work on innovative engines to power commercial space activities.
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HELSINKI — Chinese launch firm Space Circling has secured more than 100 million yuan ($13.9 million) in funding to back its work on innovative engines to power commercial space activities.
Space Circling, also known as Shaanxi Tianhui Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd., secured the funding in December last year and
announced the Series A funding Feb. 18.
The funding will mainly go towards construction of an industrial base for the company’s rocket engines, including mass production.
Space Circling has been developing its Honglong-1 and
Qiaolong-1 kerosene-liquid oxygen rocket engines since it was established in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, in March 2021.
The Qiaolong-1 is a staged combustion, tap-off cycle with two combustion chambers. It has no gas generator in order to simplify its structure, according to Space Circling. It is designed to produce 85 tons of thrust at sea level and able to fit five engines into a 3.35-meter-diameter stage — a standard sizing among Chinese Long March and commercial launch vehicles. Space Circling
conducted a successful hotfire test of the engine Jan. 31.
The company aims to be mass-producing the Qiaolong-1 by the end of the year. This is in order to meet the current urgent demand for high-thrust liquid rocket engines in China’s domestic commercial aerospace sector, founder Liu Hongjun
told Shaanxi Daily Feb. 18.
Space Circling is also apparently planning to develop its own reusable launchers using its engines. The Huilong-1 would have a length of 38 meters, a 3.35-meter-diameter core stage and 2.25-meter-diameter boosters. It is to be capable of lifting five metric tons to sun-synchronous orbit.
The larger Huilong-2 would be capable of carrying nine tons to geosynchronous transfer orbit or 25 tons to LEO.
Chinese rocket engine startup Space Circling secures funding Chinese launch firm Space Circling has secured more than 100 million yuan ($13.9 million) in funding to back its work on innovative engines to power commercial space activities.
spacenews.com