KZ Commercial Launch Vehicles
AVIC (Aviation Industry Corp of China) Space Division
AVIC (Aviation Industry Corporation of China)'s Kuaizhou (KZ) small solid-propellant commercial launch vehicles for low Earth orbit smallsat and constellation deployment.
Key figurescomparable across the catalogue
- Payload capacity
- 300 kg
Normalised to common units so this product can be compared with others in its category. The supplier's own wording is below.
As published by the supplier
- KZ-1A Payload
- 300 kg to 700 km SSO
- KZ-11 Payload
- 1,500 kg to 700 km SSO
- Propulsion
- Solid fuel (all stages)
- Launch Mode
- Road-mobile, rapid deployment (hours to launch)
- Launch Count
- 20+ KZ-1A commercial launches
- Operator
- Expace Technology (CASIC commercial arm)
- Competing With
- Rocket Lab Electron, Firefly Alpha, iSpace Hyperbola
About
The Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) is China’s state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate, with a commercial space division producing the Kuaizhou (KZ, 快舟, ‘Fast Ship’) family of small solid-propellant launch vehicles for commercial satellite deployment. AVIC’s Expace Technology (Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation’s commercial launch arm) and CASIC together developed the KZ vehicle family.
Kuaizhou-1A (KZ-1A) is a four-stage solid-fueled launch vehicle capable of delivering 300 kg to a 700 km SSO. Its road-mobile launcher enables rapid deployment from any prepared site within hours — originally designed for military responsive launch. KZ-1A has completed 20+ commercial launches deploying satellites for Chinese commercial customers, universities, and international rideshare clients.
Kuaizhou-11 (KZ-11) is a larger solid-fueled vehicle targeting 1,500 kg to 700 km SSO, enabling larger commercial satellite deployments. The Kuaizhou family competes with Rocket Lab Electron, Firefly Alpha, and Chinese rivals iSpace Hyperbola and Galactic Energy Ceres for the global small satellite launch market.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.