Hyperbola-1 (SQX-1) is a four-stage, all-solid-propellant small-lift launch vehicle developed by iSpace; its July 2019 maiden flight made it the first Chinese private company to successfully reach orbit.
Hyperbola-1
Hyperbola-1 (SQX-1) is a four-stage, all-solid-propellant small-lift launch vehicle developed by iSpace; its July 2019 maiden flight made it the first Chinese private company to successfully reach orbit.
Description
Hyperbola-1 is a small orbital launch vehicle developed by Beijing Interstellar Glory Space Technology Co., Ltd. (iSpace), a Chinese commercial space startup founded in 2016. The rocket is a four-stage design using solid rocket motors for all main propulsive stages, with a liquid-propellant attitude control system on the final stage for orbital insertion accuracy. It stands roughly 20.8 m tall with a body diameter of 1.4 m and a liftoff mass of about 31 tonnes, targeting the small-satellite and rideshare launch market at around US$5 million per mission. On 25 July 2019, Hyperbola-1 became the first Chinese privately-developed rocket to successfully place a satellite into orbit. Since then the vehicle has flown multiple times with a mixed record: after the historic 2019 success, it suffered consecutive failures in 2021 and 2022, before returning to successful flight in 2023 and again in 2025, interspersed with a further failure in mid-2024.
Specifications
| Height | 20.8 m |
|---|---|
| Diameter | 1.4 m |
| Liftoff mass | ~31 tonnes |
| Stages | 4 (all solid-fuel stages with liquid-fuel attitude control on upper stage) |
| Payload to LEO | ~300 kg |
| Payload to SSO (500 km) | ~260-300 kg |
| Launch price | ~US$5 million |
| Flight heritage | 8 launches (2019-2025): 4 successes, 4 failures — successes: Jul 2019 (maiden flight, first Chinese private orbital launch), Apr 2023, Dec 2023 (DEAR-1), Jul 2025 (Kunpeng-03); failures: Feb 2021, Aug 2021, May 2022, Jul 2024 |