New Long March series rockets to debut soon

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country's dominant space contractor, plans to conduct the maiden flights of two carrier rocket models in the coming weeks.

Ma Tao, deputy head of spacecraft operations at the State-owned conglomerate, said that the Long March 8A's debut flight is scheduled to take place in January at the new Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan province.

Officials were less specific about when the Long March 12 will make its first launch, but it will occur at the same spaceport in the near future.

The rockets' maiden flights will mark the beginning of operations at the new launch complex, he noted.

"The Long March 8A is a new variant in the Long March 8 series and will mainly be used to launch satellites for massive networks in low orbits. The Long March 12 is the first Chinese rocket with a diameter of 3.8 meters and will become the mightiest single-body rocket in the country," Ma said.

According to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a CASC subsidiary in Beijing, the Long March 8A can use two types of payload fairing — a diameter of 4.2 meters and of 5.2 meters — and is able to transport spacecraft with a combined weight of 7 metric tons to a typical sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 700 kilometers.

It is capable, reliable and easy to prepare for launch, and its operation and procurement costs are relatively low compared with other rockets, it said.

The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, also a CASC subsidiary and developer of the Long March 12, said the rocket model is more than 60 meters tall and is capable of sending at least 12 tons of payloads to a low-Earth orbit or 6 tons to a sun-synchronous orbit about 700 kilometers above Earth.

The Long March 12 incorporates a number of new technologies and has multiple functions. Its service will extensively improve China's capability to send spacecraft to a sun-synchronous orbit and deploy multisatellite networks in low orbits, according to the Shanghai academy.

In addition to the two mid-size models, CASC is also showcasing two larger types of rockets, the Long March 9 and Long March 10A, both of which are under research and development at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

The baseline configuration of the Long March 9 will have three stages and a height of about 110 meters.

It will be powerful enough to transport spaceships weighing up to 50 tons to an Earth-moon transfer trajectory for lunar missions, including the construction of a large-scale science outpost, or at least 100 tons to a low-Earth orbit.

In addition to the baseline configuration, another model will have two stages and will be reusable, according to the Beijing academy.

The Long March 10A will be nearly 70 meters tall and 5 meters wide and will also have two configurations — one for crewed flights and the other for cargo missions. Its first core stage will be reusable.

All four rocket models were displayed at the 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which concluded on Sunday in Zhuhai, Guangdong province.

The Hainan International Commercial Aerospace Launch Center is China's first launch complex dedicated to servicing commercial space operations. Other spaceports are directly administered by the government, mainly tasked with servicing State-funded programs.