China successfully launched an SEO satellite aboard a Long March-2C carrier rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 11:02 a.m. on August 17. The satellite entered its designated orbit, marking the successful completion of the mission.
The launch marked the 664th flight of China’s Long March carrier rocket series.
It came just seven days after the unsuccessful launch of the ChinaSat-4B satellite aboard a modified Long March-7 rocket on August 10. China’s space program returned to the launch pad and achieved a successful mission in a remarkably short period of time.
The Long March-2C, also known as the CZ-2C, was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It is a two-stage liquid-propellant carrier rocket powered by nitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine, both of which can be stored at room temperature.
The rocket is approximately 40 meters long, with its first and second stages and payload fairing measuring 3.35 meters in diameter. It has a liftoff mass of about 242.5 metric tons and can carry approximately 4,600 kilograms into low Earth orbit or 1,200 kilograms into a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit.
Primarily designed to launch satellites into sun-synchronous and other low Earth orbits, the Long March-2C can conduct both single-satellite and multi-satellite missions.
The rocket made its successful maiden flight from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on September 9, 1982. Having remained in service for more than 44 years, it is China’s longest-serving active carrier rocket.
It is also the only member of the Long March family capable of launching payloads into low Earth orbit, sun-synchronous orbit and geostationary transfer orbit. In 1999, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation honored the Long March-2C with the title of “Gold Medal Rocket.”
