The mainland announced a major technological breakthrough in the field of aerospace!
According to Xinhua News Agency, the mainland successfully launched a reusable test spacecraft using the Long March-2F carrier rocket at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on December 14.
After a period of orbit operation, the test spacecraft will return to the scheduled landing site in China, during which it will carry out reusable technology verification and space science experiments as planned to provide technical support for the peaceful use of space.
This means that after SpaceX's Falcon rocket, Continental has also mastered the technology of recyclable spacecraft, so that the cost of Continental's future space operations will drop sharply, greatly accelerating the development of Continental's aerospace industry.
Such a blockbuster technological breakthrough, keen market funds will definitely pay attention, today we will talk about recyclable rockets in detail.
Recyclable rockets greatly reduce the cost of spaceflight
A retrievable rocket is a rocket that can be partially or fully returned to the ground after launch and can be reused. This technology can significantly reduce the cost of space exploration, improve the efficiency of the use of space resources, and promote the development of the space industry.
Recyclable rockets usually include parts such as a first-stage rocket and a fairing. After launch, the first-stage rocket and fairing return to the ground like an ordinary aircraft, where they are used again after the necessary repairs and maintenance. This reuse can significantly reduce the cost per launch and can reduce the environmental impact.
This technology involves a variety of fields, including rocket design, materials science, navigation control, and more. The realization of a recyclable rocket requires solving many technical challenges, such as how to ensure the safe landing of the rocket when returning to the ground, how to improve the reliability and durability of the rocket, etc.
At present, the cost of space launch has remained high. On average, it costs $10,000-$20,000 to send 1 kilogram of material to the sky, and the cost of transporting American astronauts on Russia's Soyuz rocket has gone all the way up, with each seat costing more than $60 million. One of the important reasons for the high cost is that these launch vehicles are single-use.
If the first stage can be recovered and reused, it can save 80 per cent, and if the second stage can also be recovered and reused, the theoretical launch cost will be reduced to the current 1 per cent.
What is the future of the recyclable rocket market?
As a strategic industry, the mainland's support for the aerospace field has always been very strong, and since the horn of commercial aerospace was sounded in 2015, the financing amount of the mainland's commercial aerospace has increased rapidly.
In terms of specific amounts, from the financing of the mainland commercial aerospace track from 2011 to 2021, there were 341 financings of the mainland commercial aerospace track from 2011 to 2021, with a disclosed financing amount of 24.31 billion yuan.
In 2020, the total financing amount of commercial aerospace enterprises in mainland China reached a new high of about 10 billion yuan, and in 2021, there were 35 commercial aerospace financings, with a total amount of about 6.45 billion yuan.
In terms of the types of projects financed, rocket/satellite launch R&D is the most popular project for financing in 2021.
Benefiting from the sharp rise in demand for satellite launches, global space rocket launch activities have grown rapidly, with the number of launches reaching a record high in 2022.
Gain insight into economic trends and seize investment opportunities!
According to the data, there were a total of 186 rocket launches worldwide in 2022, an increase of 27% compared to 2021, of which 81 commercial space rocket launches were strong. In 2022, the United States completed 87 rocket launches and China launched 64 times.
In terms of market size, the scale of the global space economy has risen rapidly since 2018, and the commercial space launch market has expanded steadily.
According to the data, the scale of the global aerospace economy in 2022 will be 546 billion US dollars, an increase of 16% compared with 469.3 billion US dollars in 2021, and the growth trend is strong.
The revenue of the global commercial procurement satellite launch service industry has increased steadily since 2019, reaching about US$7 billion in 2022, an increase of about 23% compared with 2021, and the growth of the launch service industry revenue is mainly due to the increase in the number of LEO Internet constellation launches.
With the rapid implementation of commercial applications such as satellite communications and satellite navigation, the growth rate of the aerospace market will be faster than before, which will bring a series of significant investment opportunities.
So, what is the industrial chain of recyclable rockets and what are the investment opportunities?
The launch vehicle is mainly composed of three systems: the structural system (rocket body structure), the power plant system (propulsion system) and the control system, which are called the main system of the launch vehicle.
The launch vehicle is generally composed of 2~4 stages of rockets, each stage of the rocket includes the rocket body structure, propulsion system and flight control system, and the last stage has an instrument compartment, which can be loaded with artificial satellites and spacecraft, and is covered with a fairing.
If the payload launched by the rocket is large, several small rockets can be bundled outside one rocket, which is called a bundled rocket, the large rocket in the middle is called a core-stage rocket, and the rocket bundled on the periphery is called a booster rocket.
The upstream of the rocket industry chain is the basic materials and components, including the launch vehicle structure, the metal materials used in the engine, composite materials, etc., as well as the components required for electronic equipment.
Here we focus on aerospace electrical appliances - the only listed company of the Tenth Academy of Aerospace Science and Industry.
Aerospace Appliances initially focused on the connector and relay business for the aerospace industry. After gradual development, at present, its product range has expanded to high-end relays, connectors, micro motors and optoelectronic products and other fields.
The company's electronic components are widely used in many downstream markets such as military fields and civilian communications. Among them, more than 70% of the aerospace electrical products are sold to high-end customer groups such as aerospace, aviation, electronics, ships, and weapons, and military products cover almost all military equipment fields.
In the civilian market, the company mainly provides services for the fields of communications, petroleum, rail transit and home appliances. With its outstanding advantages in technology, brand, product and management, the company has been committed to supporting major national engineering projects.
Judging from the company's performance over the years, net profit and revenue have been growing steadily, growing for ten consecutive years, and there has never been a loss during the period. Although the company's revenue growth has slowed down, the company's net profit growth rate is gradually rising, indicating that the company's profitability is becoming more and more optimistic.
The midstream is the development of subsystems, including rocket structure, engines, electronic equipment, etc., and the products are various subsystems of the launch vehicle.
The downstream is the final assembly integration, including the overall design, final assembly integration and testing, and the product is the whole arrow.
For a long time, the concentration of the middle and lower reaches of the domestic launch vehicle industry is very high, and China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has always been the only manufacturer of launch vehicles, and after the rise of the commercial aerospace field, the Aerospace Science and Industry Group has also begun to cut into the field of launch vehicle development. At present, these two enterprises are the leading enterprises in the middle and lower reaches of launch vehicles.
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