China's new launch vehicles Long March Series

[selvaarchi]

Long March-8 to debut in 2020.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/2019-11-20/d...x5065018.shtml

China's new medium-lift launch vehicle Long March 8 will make its maiden flight next year, and it has entered the final stage of assembly and testing, according to the Fifth China International Commercial Aerospace Forum held on Tuesday.

Long March 8 has been designed for commercial use to compete in the world market for carrying a maximum payload of 4.5 tons to the Sun synchronous orbit, according to the forum held in Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province.

It will meet clients' requirements on low cost and good performance, said Tang Yihua, deputy head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

It is estimated that after being put on the market, its annual output will meet the demand of at least 10 launches in the early stage, and more than 20 in the later stage, Tang said.

[selvaarchi]

The version of Long March 5 to launch the Chinese Space Station modules is about to be tested later this year. Its payload will be a new version of their human space capsule.

https://spacenews.com/rocket-nears-s...n-test-launch/

The first flight model of a rocket designed to launch modules for a Chinese space station is set to arrive at Wenchang spaceport for a crucial test mission.

The Long March 5B launch vehicle — including a five-meter-diameter core stage and four side boosters — is due to reach Qinglan port, Hainan island, Feb.1, ship tracking reveals. Specially designed cargo vessels Yuanwang-21 and 22 collected the components at the port city of Tianjin before departing Jan. 26.

The primary goal of the test flight is testing the Long March 5B for launching to low Earth orbit (LEO) in preparation for launch of the core module of China’s space station. A prototype of the roughly 22.5-metric-ton liftoff mass Tianhe core module was delivered to Wenchang earlier in January for integration tests.

The launch will however carry an uncrewed test flight of a new generation crewed spacecraft designed to provide China with greater human spaceflight capabilities.

The as-yet-unnamed spacecraft will be capable of carrying up to six astronauts, or three astronauts and 500 kilograms of cargo. It is also designed to facilitate missions to the moon and deep space. The Shenzhou can carry three astronauts to LEO and has been used of all six of the country’s crewed missions.

The test launch is likely to take place in April following launch preparations at vertical integration facility. The previous missions involving the standard Long March 5 variant took roughly two months from arrival to launch. The Long March 5B mission is proceeding following a successful return-to-flight of the third Long March 5 in late December.

[selvaarchi]

Long March 7A fail's on its maiden flight.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...21727f868.html

The debut mission of China's newest carrier rocket – Long March 7A – failed on Monday night.

The 60.1-meter rocket blasted off at 9:34 pm from a launch pad in the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province but experienced malfunctions during the flight, according to the Xinhua News Agency.

[selvaarchi]

Andrew Jones reports that the failure could affect upcoming launches. Which missions are affected will depend in which stage the failure occurred.

https://spacenews.com/launch-of-chin...ds-in-failure/

It modular design means it shares common engines with other new, cryogenic Long March vehicles. Depending on the cause of the anomaly, the failure could impact upcoming missions.

The RP-1/liquid oxygen side boosters and core stage share commonalities with the Long March 5, including YF-100 engines. An issue with these engines could potentially impact planned Long March 5 missions, including China’s first independent interplanetary mission—to Mars—in July. It could also have knock-on effects for China’s space station plans.

If the issue was with the second stage YF-115 engines, the impact of the failure could be limited to the Long March 6 and 7 series rockets. A new variant of the Long March 6 developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology is expected later in 2020.

An upper stage problem could see knock-on effects for the older, Long March 3 series rockets, as the Long March 7A third stage is adapted from the Long March 3B. The 3B is the current workhorse for Chinese GTO launches.

[selvaarchi]

Did not see any report on China's controlled fall of its 1st stage.

http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/forum...message1970717

China's first accurate controlled rocket fall using a parachute] On March 9 this year, China successfully launched a CZ-3B booster rocket with the 54th Baidou navigation satellite. This mission was the first to test the technology of controlling the landing zone of a booster stage using a parachute. On April 2, the developer showed a video of a falling stage, which reveals the canopy of the parachute and accurately lands.
More than 10 years have passed from the proposal to the successful implementation of this test. ... The test confirmed the feasibility of the general scheme of the parachute control system and laid the foundation for further iterative improvements. The developers said that this year there will be one or two additional tests. Also, to further improve the accuracy of landing at a given point, a parachute with an increased dome area will be used.

[selvaarchi]

Did not see any report on China's controlled fall of its 1st stage.

http://novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/forum...message1970717

Leonard David has it in his latest post.

https://www.leonarddavid.com/china-t...achute-system/

Chinese researchers are working on a new system designed to prevent rocket boosters from falling unpredictably in areas with human activity.

[selvaarchi]

Designers working on new, more powerful Long March 11 rocket

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...241159c51.html

Designers have begun to develop an upgraded version of the Long March 11 carrier rocket called the Long March 11A, which they said will be wider and taller than the current model and have greater thrust.

[selvaarchi]

Now new rumors of China aiming for a moon landing in 2025 and to support that a new rocket - Long March 921 (name is pure speculation by me)

https://www.space.com/china-rocket-f...-moon-missions

China has not officially approved a program to put astronauts on the moon, but has been talking openly about such missions. Previous mission profiles involved a Long March 9 rocket, expected to be similar in size to NASA's Saturn V or the agency's developing Space Launch System (SLS). The roughly 33-foot-diameter (10 m) rocket would need new rocket body-technology and huge, high-thrust engines and it would make a test flight around 2030.

Superseding the Long March 9 with the new launcher, which first appeared as a concept in 2018, as the preferred method of getting the moon means China may be able to get there quicker.

The new launcher will use clusters of already-developed YF-100K engines and 16.4-foot-diameter rocket bodies similar to the Long March 5, meaning less development work and required breakthroughs.

The vehicle hasn't formally been named but is nicknamed '921 rocket' in China, in reference to the codename for the country's human spaceflight program, which was founded on Sept. 21, 1992.

[selvaarchi]

More details of their moon rocket.

https://spacenews.com/china-outlines...moon-landings/

China has outlined a proposed architecture for getting astronauts to the moon and back as part of plans for long-term lunar exploration.

A presentation at the 2020 China Space Conference in September details infrastructure including a new launch vehicle, new-generation spacecraft and a lunar lander, along with a potential lunar orbit module and crewed roving vehicle.

The prospective mission profile laid out in the presentation involves separate launches of crewed spacecraft and a lunar landing stack. The two would then rendezvous and dock once in lunar orbit before descending to the lunar surface.

A service module would remain in low lunar orbit and rendezvous with an ascent vehicle designed to carry astronauts from the moon’s surface.

[selvaarchi]

More details of their moon rocket.

https://spacenews.com/china-outlines...moon-landings/

More information on the rocket, as well as the Long March-9 as well as their reusable rocket - Long March-8.

https://spacenews.com/china-pushes-a...-long-march-9/

China is pressing ahead with the Long March 9 super heavy launch vehicle for crewed lunar, robotic deep space exploration and space infrastructure.

The massive rocket is in the research and development stage with a test launch planned for around 2030, said Xu Hongliang, secretary-general of the China National Space Administration, speaking at the Wenchang International Aerospace Forum Nov. 24.

The event followed the launch of the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission from the Wenchang spaceport that morning local time. The mission was launched by China’s current largest rocket, the 878-metric-ton, 57-meter-long Long March 5.

[Roger E. Moore]

China rolls out its reusable, vertical-landing Long March 8 rocket for a weekend test flight

https://spacenews.com/china-rolls-ou...d-test-flight/

[selvaarchi]

"China's new powerful solid rocket engine conducts test run"

https://news.cgtn.com/news/2020-12-3...PiE/index.html

China successfully conducted a test run of its new huge solid rocket booster engine in Xi'an, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, on Wednesday.

The three-stage booster engine with a diameter of 3.2 meters is currently the most powerful solid rocket engine with the largest thrust, diameter, explosive payload and the longest ignition time in China.

[selvaarchi]

Now new rumors of China aiming for a moon landing in 2025 and to support that a new rocket - Long March 921 (name is pure speculation by me)

https://www.space.com/china-rocket-f...-moon-missions

More details of the rocket.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/scie...mbitious-space

China’s next five-year plan outlines three missions – the retrieval of samples from an asteroid, then from Mars, followed by a fly-by of the Jupiter system – all of which will require significant rocket power.

The unnamed hydrogen/oxygen engine is expected to eventually replace the YF-77 which currently powers the first stage of China’s Long March CZ-5 family of heavy-lift vehicle rockets.
Instead of the YF-77’s gas-generator cycle, the new rocket will use a staged combustion cycle, which increases efficiency by burning through the propellant more thoroughly, but also poses engineering design and build challenges.

[selvaarchi]

"China moves to next stage of super heavy rocket development"

https://spacenews.com/china-moves-to...t-development/

China’s space contractor has announced progress on rocket engines designed for major space missions, including a new engine for future lunar missions.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) announced Jan. 11 that progress on key technologies for a 220-ton thrust, liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen staged combustion cycle engine had been made.

The engine is designed to power the second stage of the Long March 9 rocket, a super heavy-lift launch vehicle being developed to launch major missions, including supporting future crewed missions to the moon. It follows progress on new engines for the first stage.

[selvaarchi]

China has made progress in building a prototype cryogenic fuel tank made of composite materials. This will reduce the weight of the rocket, enabling it to carry a heavier load.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...545#msg2182545

On January 22, my country's first prototype of a 3.35m diameter composite material storage tank was born in the Rocket Academy. The storage tank is mainly used in liquid oxygen environment. Compared with the metal storage tank, it can reduce the weight by 30% and has higher strength. It can greatly improve the structural efficiency and carrying capacity of the rocket. It is a new type of lightweight storage tank.

The birth of the prototype of the composite material storage tank marks that my country has broken the foreign monopoly and has become one of the few countries in the world that has the ability to design and manufacture composite material storage tanks.

[selvaarchi]

"China's first hybrid rocket to make 2021 maiden flight"

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/202..._139699613.htm

Long March-6A, China's first carrier rocket powered by a solid and liquid engine, will make its maiden flight in 2021, its developer said.

Long March-6A, a new generation medium-launch vehicle, can be powered by different numbers of liquid and solid engines to achieve different carrying capacity levels, which is more cost-effective, according to the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

The rocket has a higher degree of automation and is also more intelligent as it can monitor and diagnose its potential problems.

[selvaarchi]

Just like SpaceX, China is also experimenting with rocket tank with different materials'

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20210...d0baa57a2.html

China has developed two new rocket tank prototypes that can help reduce the weight of rockets and improve launch capabilities, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

The two new prototypes, developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the CASC, both have a diameter of 3.35 meters. One is made of aluminum lithium alloy and the other is made of composite materials.

[selvaarchi]

China has officially giving the go ahead for the development of the Long March-9. This is also a blessing tp manned moon landings by the Chinese. Time line for the LM-9 is still 2030.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021...arch-9-rocket/

China has officially approved the development of a super heavy lift rocket, named the Long March 9, or CZ-9 vehicle. The decision was revealed on Wednesday by Chinese state television.

In a snippet from an interview with CCTV, the deputy director of the China National Space Agency, Wu Yanhua, said the main purpose of the new rocket is for any "crewed lunar landing or crewed Mars landing missions" the country may undertake.

[selvaarchi]

China introduces yet another rocket into its Long March series - Long March-6A

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20210...d0baab1eb.html

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor, announced on Wednesday that it plans to conduct the maiden flight of the Long March 6A carrier rocket before the end of this year.

The State-owned conglomerate said in an annual report on its space activities that the medium-lift Long March 6A will consist of a 50-meter, liquid-propelled core booster and four solid-fuel side boosters. It will be tasked with transporting satellites to multiple types of orbit such as sun-synchronous, low-Earth or intermediate circular orbit.

The rocket, developed by the company's Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, will have a liftoff weight of 530 metric tons. Its core booster will have a diameter of 3.35 meters and will be propelled by two 120-ton-thrust engines burning liquid oxygen and kerosene.