Launch costs set to be lower after rocket blasts off from sea platform
Print Edition
CHINA successfully launched a rocket from a mobile platform in the Yellow Sea off Shandong Province yesterday, sending two technology experiment satellites and five commercial satellites into space.
A Long March-11 solid propellant carrier rocket blasted off at 12:06pm from the mobile platform. It is China’s first space launch from a sea-based platform and the 306th mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.
The launch makes China the first nation to fully own and operate a floating sea launch platform, a technology expected to significantly reduce the cost and risk of space missions.
Launching a carrier rocket from an ocean-based platform has many advantages over a land launch.
The closer to the equator a rocket launch can get, the greater the speed boost it will receive. It reduces the amount of energy required to get into space and means that less fuel is required.
The launch site is flexible while falling rocket remains pose less danger. Using civilian ships to launch rockets at sea would lower launch costs and give it a commercial edge.
The seaborne launch technology will meet the growing launch demand of low inclination satellites and help China provide launch services for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, according to experts.
The two satellites, developed by China Academy of Space Technology, are expected to step up all-weather monitoring of ocean wind fields and improve typhoon monitoring and accuracy of the weather forecast in China.
Among the five commercial satellites, the two satellites, developed by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, are China’s first small satellite system based on Ka-band.
The Long March-11, developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, is the only rocket using solid propellants among China’s new generation carrier rockets.
It is mainly used to carry small satellites and can take multiple satellites into orbit at the same time.
It is a four-stage rocket with a design similar to a ballistic missile. The rocket can carry a payload of about 700kg to the Earth’s lower orbit.
The first two stages of the rocket dropped in open waters in the northern Pacific Ocean, according to the China National Space Administration. The rocket was equipped with a flight suspension system in case of any abnormal situation, but none occurred.
The rocket is named “CZ-11 WEY” after a young luxury car brand by Chinese sports utility vehicle manufacturer Great Wall Motor, under an agreement between the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, China Space Foundation and the automaker.
The world’s first ocean rocket launch platform, the Sea Launch, was jointly built by companies from Russia, the US, Norway and Ukraine in the late 1990s. Its operation was halted in 2014.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 娌狪CP璇侊細娌狪CP澶05050403鍙-1
- |
- 浜掕仈缃戞柊闂讳俊鎭湇鍔¤鍙瘉锛31120180004
- |
- 缃戠粶瑙嗗惉璁稿彲璇侊細0909346
- |
- 骞挎挱鐢佃鑺傜洰鍒朵綔璁稿彲璇侊細娌瓧绗354鍙
- |
- 澧炲肩數淇′笟鍔＄粡钀ヨ鍙瘉锛氭勃B2-20120012
Copyright 漏 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
