Latest reports suggest that China is going to develop a new generation of rockets that can be launched from Aeroplanes. The Dragon country is currently aiming to send hundreds of satellites into space for different purposes like military, commercial and science.
Li Tongyu, the head of rocket development at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology said that they had designed a solid-fuel rocket that could carry a 100 kg (220 lb) payload into low Earth orbit.Now they are developing the Y-20 aircraft which can take off with heavy weights.
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Delivery of the Y-20 to the Chinese Air Force began in July. It is China’s first domestically developed heavy-lift transport plane and has a maximum take-off weight of more than 200 metric tons and a maximum payload of about 66 tons, the Daily quoted aviation experts as saying.
Advantages of Aircraft Launched Satellites:
In comparison to the regular satellites, Air-launched rockets can quickly send up Earth observation satellites into the orbit and therefore can be more useful during disaster management.
Another added advantage of these satellites would be they will no need ground infrastructure, and they are more flexible than the existing satellites.Problems like bad weather can be eliminated using the aircraft launched satellites.
