24 February 2018
China will accelerate research and commercial use of rocket upper stages, a carrier rocket official said on 23 January. "The Yuanzheng rocket upper stage family will have a new member, Yuanzheng-1S, this year, serving launches for low and medium Earth orbit satellites," said Wang Mingzhe, an upper stage architect of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). Wang Mingzhe said there is growing demand for putting upper stages into commercial use, such as using them as launch vehicles to send small payloads into low and medium orbits. The new model Yuanzheng-1S will be a simplified version to cater to these needs.
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