Long March-8 takes off to test rocket reuse
Print Edition
A NEW Chinese carrier rocket made its first flight yesterday under a long-term plan to develop reusable launch vehicles aimed at reducing mission costs and speed up launch schedules for commercial clients.
The medium-lift Long March 8 Y-1 blasted off at 12:37pm from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of southern China’s island province of Hainan carrying five satellites, according to the China National Space Administration.
Long March-8 is the first among China’s carrier rockets to adopt thrust control technology, which will enhance its adaptability to different missions and help test related technologies for rocket reuse.
“Long March-8 will offer a platform for the application of and experiments for recycling, intelligent and automatic technologies,” said Wu Yitian, deputy chief designer of the rocket.
China plans to develop reusable rockets under the Long March 8 series in the coming years, similar to the Falcon range already produced by US private aerospace firm SpaceX.
Future variants are expected to be capable of vertical takeoff and vertical landing, allowing them to be used for more than one launch. The Long March-8 rocket has a total length of 50.3 meters, with a takeoff mass of 356 tons. It can carry a payload of at least 4.5 tons to a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers.
The rocket fills the gap in China’s launch capability to the sun-synchronous orbit from 3 tons to 4.5 tons, and is of great significance for accelerating the upgrading of launch vehicles, according to the CNSA.
The rocket was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. It has a 3.35-meter-diameter first stage, a 3-meter-diameter second stage, a 4.2-meter-diameter fairing, and two 2.25-meter-diameter strap-on boosters.
It adopts technologies used in the Long March-5 and Long March-7 rockets, and uses non-toxic and non-polluting propellants.
The rocket will enrich China’s launch vehicle variety and help expand the aerospace activities, according to the CALT. It will promote the upgrading of China’s medium-sized launch vehicles and satisfy the needs of frequent launch missions for medium and low-orbit satellites, said Xiao Yun, chief commander of the rocket.
“It will lay a technological foundation for the development of large and heavy rockets, shortening development periods and reducing costs,” said Song Zhengyu, chief designer of the Long March-8 rocket.
The rocket can send one or multiple satellites in a single launch, and can undertake launch networking missions for low-Earth orbit satellites. The five experimental satellites launched yesterday by the rocket will carry out the in-orbit verification of microwave imaging and other technologies. They will conduct experiments in space science, remote sensing and communication technologies.
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