Kaituozhe (rocket family)

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The Kaituozhe (Chinese: 开拓者; pinyin: kāi tuò zhě; lit. 'pioneer') or KT rocket family is a series of launch vehicles built by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

Kaituozhe-1 (KT-1) was a small, solid fueled launch vehicle based on the road mobile DF-21 IRBM with an additional upper stage (in total 4 stages^[1]). It was 13.6 meters in length and 1.4 meters in diameter, with launch mass of 20t. It was possible to launch KT-1 both from a truck-based platform or from airborne platform.^[1] It had a 100 kg to LEO payload capacity. It was possibly the launch vehicle for a Chinese ASAT system that was tested against an old Chinese weather satellite in 2007.^[2]

The vehicle has performed two flights, the first on 15 September 2002 and the second 16 September 2003. The first flight failed to place a 50 kg satellite into polar orbit due to a second stage malfunction. The second flight was also a failure, however Chinese officials declared some success citing the guidance systems, fairing separation and satellite-launcher separation as successful. The second launch sent the payload, PS-2 microsatellite (40 kg) into wrong orbit. The satellite completed barely one orbit before re-entering the atmosphere.^[1]

The Kaituozhe-1 launcher appears to have been cancelled after two unsuccessful launches. A third (in 2004) and fourth launch have been rumored, but are not confirmed.^[2][1]

The rocket had three variants: the Kaituozhe-1 (KT-1), the Kaituozhe-1A (KT-1A, originally designated KT-2, not to be confused with KT-2 below) and the Kaituozhe-1B (KT-1B, originally designated KT-2A, not to be confused with KT-2A below). The rockets that flew were of the KT-1 variant. The KT-1A and KT-1B variant rockets were not built.^[1]

Like its predecessor the Kaituozhe-2 (KT-2) is a solid-fueled launch vehicle which could be based on the DF-31 missile.^[3] Two versions have been proposed:^{[citation needed]}

The Kaituozhe-2 (KT-2, AKA Kaituo-2) features a possibly DF-31 based stage 1, topped by a small diameter stage 2 and 3. It has reportedly a payload of 800 kg to low earth orbit.^[4]

The maiden flight of the Kaituozhe-2^[5] took place at 23:45 UTC on March 2, 2017, from Jiuquan (apparently from one of the two solid rocket launch pads^[1]).^[3][6] The rocket placed the Tiankun-1 (TK-1) satellite into polar orbit.^[7]

The KT-2 is a rapid-response launcher; the rocket is capable of mobile-launch from a transporter-erector-launcher (TEL) vehicle.^[1]

The Kaituozhe-2A (KT-2A) features a possibly DF-31 based stage 1, augmented by two DF-21 based strap-on boosters. It features a stage 2 with the same diameter as the stage 1 and the same smaller diameter stage 3 as the Kaituozhe-2. It has reportedly a payload of 2000 kg to low Earth orbit.^{[citation needed]}

• Comparison of orbital launchers families
• Comparison of orbital launch systems
• Kuaizhou launcher
• Long March 6