At 12:11 noon on March 15, 2025, the Long March-2D carrier rocket carrying the 4D Gaojing-302 satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Subsequently, the satellite successfully entered the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success.
The following is the relevant research and analysis content of the Long March-2D launch vehicle:
1. Basic information
The Long March 2D launch vehicle was developed by the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology. Development was launched in February 1990. Based on the Long March 4A launch vehicle, the conventional liquid three sub-stages were reduced and adaptive modifications were made. It is mainly used to launch small and medium-sized payloads in low-Earth orbit (LEO) and sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). On August 9, 1992, the Long March-2D carrier rocket successfully made its first flight. As a two-stage conventional liquid propellant launch vehicle, the Long March 2-D has a LEO transport capacity of approximately 4 tons and an SSO (700km) transport capacity of approximately 1.3 tons.
2. Rocket composition
(1) One sub-level
The first stage of the Long March 2D carrier rocket has a diameter of 3.35 m and a length of 27.91 m. It is equipped with a YF-21C engine and uses dinitrogen tetroxide/uniform dimethylhydrazine as propellant. It has a sea level thrust of 2992.8 kN and a sea level specific impulse of 261 s.
(2) Second level
The second stage of the Long March 2D launch vehicle has a diameter of 3.35 m and a length of 11.214 m. The main engine is YF-22C, the vacuum thrust is 742 kN, and the vacuum specific impulse is 300.2 s. The traveling machines are four YF-23Cs, with a total vacuum thrust of 47.1 kN and a vacuum specific impulse of 289.2 s.
3. Launch record
At present, the Long March-2D carrier rocket has completed 96 launch missions, of which 95 were successful and 1 was partially successful, with a launch success rate of 98.96%. The Long March 2D carrier rocket can be launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, Xichang Satellite Launch Center, and Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Before 2016, the Long March-2D carrier rocket was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. On December 28, 2016, the Long March-2D carrier rocket was launched for the first time from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The payloads it carried were Gaojing Commercial Remote Sensing-1 Satellite 01, Gaojing Commercial Remote Sensing-1 Satellite 02, and the “August 1st Youth Travel” satellite. 146.7 s after launch, the first-stage engine subsystem of the rocket shut down abnormally early. Subsequently, the two Gaojing satellites successfully entered the scheduled 530 km SSO orbit after multiple orbit changes. However, the life of the Bayi satellite was reduced from the scheduled 180 days to two months. The launch mission was partially successful. This is also the only semi-successful launch record of the Long March 2D carrier rocket. On February 20, 2020, the Long March-2D carrier rocket was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center for the first time, and the launch mission was successful.
4. Rocket Analysis
Although the Long March 2D launch vehicle belongs to the Long March 2 series of rockets in name, it is the bloodline of the Long March 4. The development team of the Long March 2D launch vehicle is composed of personnel drawn from the development team of the Long March 4A launch vehicle, and fully inherited the technical foundation of the Long March 4 launch vehicle during the development process. Before the first flight of the Long March 2D carrier rocket, my country’s extraterrestrial mission failed. The entire domestic aerospace industry was under great pressure. The Long March 2D’s first flight was successful, which broke the haze of my country’s unfavorable space situation at that time. The Long March 2D launch vehicle supports single-star, multi-star parallel/series and carry-on launches, and achieves multiple satellites with one rocket by optimizing the fairing layout (such as wall-mounted and side-mounted combinations). At 13:30 on June 15, 2023, the Long March-2D carrier rocket successfully launched 41 Jilin-1 Gaofen 06A satellites into the predetermined orbit at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, setting a new record for my country’s highest number of satellites in one rocket. The Long March-2D launch vehicle has a relatively high cost performance and is very suitable for the flexible and economical launch requirements of commercial satellites. In addition, the Long March-2D carrier rocket has won a good reputation in the international launch market with its excellent performance in international commercial space launches, and has provided high-quality launch services to many international customers such as Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, the Netherlands, and Argentina.
