China’s new Long March 7A rocket successfully launched its first orbital mission after the first attempt ended in failure a year ago.
The rocket landed on Thursday (March 11) at 12:51 EST (1751 GMT, or 01:51 local time March 12) at 12:51 EST (1751 GMT, or 01:51 local time March 12) from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center hoisted, according to Chinese state-run media. Xinhua.
It named a classified experimental satellite called Shiyan-9 (‘Experiment-9’), developed by the China Academy of Space Technology, according to a report by SpaceNews.
“The satellite will be used primarily for tests in the orbit of new technologies, including monitoring of the space environment,” Xinhua said in his report.
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When China attempted to launch the new Long March 7A rocket on its debut flight on March 16, 2020 – almost exactly a year ago, an engine failure occurred shortly after the first-phase separation and the payload was lost, SpaceNews reported.
The new rocket is intended to replace China’s Long March 3B rocket as the go-to launch vehicle for sending satellites to a geosynchronous transmission orbit, or the path taken by satellites around a geostationary orbit high above the to reach earth. This is a customized version of the Long March 7 rocket, which launched in 2016 and launched two missions to a low orbit around the earth.
To reach a geosynchronous transmission orbit, a rocket, according to NASA, must send the satellite into an elliptical orbit that extends to about 37,000 kilometers above the earth, while satellites in a low earth orbit are 161 to 322 km. ) above our planet.
The Long March 7A is also capable of lifting heavier loads to a track, with a carrying capacity of 8 tons (7 tons), as opposed to the March 6 (5.5 tons) carrying capacity of Long March, according to Xinhua.
China plans to launch three to five long March 7A missions a year before 2025, Xinhua said, adding that “scientists will further upgrade the launcher to meet the demand for sending satellites and space probes around the moon,” Explore Mars and asteroids. . “
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