China's Long March-8

[selvaarchi]

China is planing to fill a gap in their rocket launch range by introducing the Long March 8.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...241159004.html

The Long March 8 will improve China's launch capability for sun-synchronous orbit and will also boost the nation's commercial space industry, said Bao Weimin, director of science and technology at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

"The rocket is expected to fill a gap in our rocket fleet because we don't have a suitable model to send a satellite weighing from 3 to 4.5 metric tons into sun-synchronous orbit. It can also be used for missions to low-Earth and geostationary transfer orbits," he told China Daily in a recent interview on the sidelines of the third session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, which held its closing meeting on Wednesday in Beijing.

[selvaarchi]

China is planing to fill a gap in their rocket launch range by introducing the Long March 8.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20200...241159004.html

That plan has been replaced by one going for reusable rockets.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/space...china/cz-8.htm

Long March 8, appears to have been radically redesigned since it was first described in 2017. It will have a vertically recoverable core first stage and boosters, CALT official Long Lehao said in June 2018. The Long March 8 would feature first stages and boosters that can be landed, recovered and reused following powered descent or parachute landing. Chinese state space industry group CASC saig in May 2018 it will develop a space launcher with a reusable first stage, basing the program on its forthcoming Long March 8.

From nasaspaceflight forum

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...179#msg2046179

Re: CZ-8 – the world's second reusable orbital rocket

[Garrison]

That plan has been replaced by one going for reusable rockets.

https://www.globalsecurity.org/space...china/cz-8.htm



From nasaspaceflight forum

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...179#msg2046179

I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is? Are we supposed to be impressed that China is yet again 'borrowing inspiration' from a competitor?

[publiusr]

I wish they had gone the flyback route—it would have been nice to see.

[selvaarchi]

1st customer for the Long March-8 is the Ethiopian Space Science & Technology Institute (ESSTI)

https://africanews.space/essti-confi...inese-partner/

The Ethiopian Space Science & Technology Institute (ESSTI) has confirmed launch details of its ET-SMART-RSS nanosatellite scheduled for launch on 20 December 2020 onboard a Chinese rocket from the Wenchang Launch Center in Hainan Province of China, according to a recent disclosure to Space in Africa by ESSTI’s Deputy Director General, Dr Yeshurun Alemayehu.

ET-SMART-RSS is a 6U nanosatellite jointly developed by ESSTI and Chinese newspace company Beijing Smart Satellite Technology (SMART).

The primary mission of the satellite is to provide earth observation services to China and African countries, as well as strengthen collaboration between ESSTI and SMART who have set out to jointly do business in Africa.

[Noclevername]

I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is? Are we supposed to be impressed that China is yet again 'borrowing inspiration' from a competitor?

Um, it's space news. On a forum about space news.

[Swift]

I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is? Are we supposed to be impressed that China is yet again 'borrowing inspiration' from a competitor?

Let's keep this polite. If you think a thread is pointless, than Report it or ignore it.

[selvaarchi]

"China's Long March-8 rocket in position for test flight"

http://www.ecns.cn/hd/2020-12-16/det...y3496750.shtml

China's Long March-8 Y1 carrier rocket stands vertically at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China's Hainan Province, Dec. 16, 2020. Long March-8 rocket, a new model that is potentially reusable, was delivered to Wenchang Space Launch Center on Wednesday. It will make a test flight by the end of December

[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 Launch Long March 8 LIVE"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T60NFHRMNj8

Watch live the launch on youtube in less than two hours.

[selvaarchi]

Long March-8 has had a successful launch. Well done China

This launch is not reusable launch. Following the chat, the reusable version will be known as Long March-8R and will be different from SpaceX Falcon. The difference is, the center core and the two side boosters will not separate but will land as one unit.

From the NASA forum we have the following :-

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...msg2171436#new

China's new medium-lift carrier rocket Long March-8 made its maiden flight on Tuesday, sending five satellites into planned orbit, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

The rocket blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of southern China's island province of Hainan at 12:37 p.m. (Beijing Time).

Link to summary of launches by country in 2019

NUMBER OF LAUNCHES IN 2020 BY COUNTRY__________________________________________________ _____SUMMARY OF LAUNCHES IN 2019 BY COUNTRY

Country	Launches	Failures	Partial Failures	BEO Launches	manned Launches	_________________	Total Launches	BEO Launches	Manned Launches
United States	35	1	0	2	2	___________________	22	0	0
Russia	14	0	0	0	2	___________________	22	1	3
China	38	4	0	2	0	___________________	34	0	0
ESA	7	1	0	0	0	___________________	9	0	0
Japan	4	0	0	1	0	___________________	2	0	0
India	2	0	0	0	0	___________________	6	1	0
New Zealand	7	1	0	0	0	___________________	6	0	0
North Korea	0	0	0	0	0	___________________	0	0	0
Israel	1	0	0	0	0	___________________	0	0	0
Iran	2	1	0	0	0	___________________	3	0	0
TOTAL	110	8	0	5	4	___________________	104	2	3

[selvaarchi]

From NASA forum, video of the launch.

https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/in...msg2171462#new

"CZ-8 maiden flight with XJY-7 - Wenchang - December 22, 2020 (04:37 UTC)"

[selvaarchi]

Confirmation, that the reusable Long March-8. will be recovered as one unit, unlike where each booster is recovered separately. High lights mine.

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20201...ba9d584_3.html

In the long run, the rocket is expected to become the first reusable model in the Long March series as designers have planned to give it reusability to increase its commercial competitiveness.

Designers intend to develop an integrated first stage for the rocket's future reusable variant. This new first stage will consist of a core booster and two side boosters. Instead of breaking up and falling back to Earth like all existing Chinese rockets' first stages do, the new core and side boosters will stick together and conduct propelled landing as a whole onto a recovery platform at sea.

[selvaarchi]

More information on the development of reusability for Long March-8.

https://spacenews.com/china-launches...ang-spaceport/

The Long March 8 is, like the new generation Long March 5, 6, 7 launch vehicles, designed to replace and upgrade China’s aging hypergolic Long March 2, 3 and 4 families. The new launchers first began launching in 2015.

The Long March 8 is to be adapted for reusability in the future. During the launch thrust was throttled down to 77.5 percent around the time of maximum dynamic pressure.

“Thrust adjustment technology is a key technology for rocket reusability and must be mastered,” said Xiao Yun, the commander-in-chief of the Long March 8. Further tests related to vertical take-off and vertical landing are planned for 2021.

[selvaarchi]

SPACEFLIGHT NOW carries an article on the Long March-8

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/12/2...-debut-launch/

A new Chinese launch vehicle, the Long March 8, has successfully placed five payloads into orbit on its first mission, debuting an expendable booster intended to eventually be outfitted for recovery and reuse.

The Long March 8 rocket took off from the Wenchang satellite launch center on Hainan Island, China’s newest spaceport, at 11:37 p.m. EST Dec. 20 (0437 GMT; 12:37 p.m. Beijing time Dec. 21), Chinese space program officials said.

The medium-lift launcher is the latest in a series of new additions to the Long March rocket family, following the introduction of the Long March 5, Long March 6, and Long March 7 vehicles in recent years.

[selvaarchi]

SPACEFLIGHT NOW carries an article on the Long March-8

https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/12/2...-debut-launch/

A new Chinese launch vehicle, the Long March 8, has successfully placed five payloads into orbit on its first mission, debuting an expendable booster intended to eventually be outfitted for recovery and reuse.

The Long March 8 rocket took off from the Wenchang satellite launch center on Hainan Island, China’s newest spaceport, at 11:37 p.m. EST Dec. 20 (0437 GMT; 12:37 p.m. Beijing time Dec. 21), Chinese space program officials said.

The medium-lift launcher is the latest in a series of new additions to the Long March rocket family, following the introduction of the Long March 5, Long March 6, and Long March 7 vehicles in recent years.

[selvaarchi]

"China's 1st reusable rocket on way, says expert"

http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/20210...d0baac8ea.html

Designers at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology have started developing the first reusable model in the nation's Long March carrier rocket family, said a senior rocket scientist.

Jiang Jie, an expert at the academy and a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said on Wednesday that research and development of the reusable variant of the Long March 8 rocket was proceeding well and designers plan to conduct the first test to verify key vertical landing technologies before the end of this year.

"The new model will feature highly integrated equipment, autonomous technologies and convenient pre-launch preparations," said Jiang, a member of China's top political advisory body, one day ahead of the opening of the fourth session of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.