![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/chinasat-6d.jpg\")
<\/p>\nChina has successfully launched the ChinaSat 6D satellite into geostationary transfer orbit Friday via their Chang Zheng 3B\/E rocket. The launch took place at 12:00 UTC (8:00 PM local time) from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The ChinaSat 6D satellite, also known as Zhongxing 6D, was deployed into orbit by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT). The Chang Zheng 3B\/E (CZ-3B\/E) \u2013 or Long March 3B\/E \u2013 rocket is the most powerful of the Chang Zheng 3 series of rockets that China uses for most of its geostationary satellite launches.<\/p>\n
ChinaSat 6D was built by the state-owned China Academy of Space Technology and will be operated by China Satcom. Equipped with 25 C-band transponders, the satellite will provide users in China with reliable high-bit rate uplink and downlink for radio and TV stations from its station at a longitude of 125 degrees East.<\/p>\n
The satellite is powered by two large solar arrays which charge onboard batteries. It is expected to operate for at least 15 years. <\/p>\n
Having been deployed successfully into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO), it will spend the initial months raising itself into geostationary orbit (GEO) and undergoing on-orbit testing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
ChinaSat 6D undergoing assembly (credit: China Satcom)<\/p>\n
ChinaSat 6D will replace the ChinaSat 6A satellite, which was launched in September 2010 and was formerly known as SinoSat-6. ChinaSat 6A had been expected to remain in service until 2025; however, a fault with its helium pressurization system has shortened its operational life and required that a replacement be launched sooner than had been planned.<\/p>\n
Friday\u2019s launch is the first to deliver a new satellite for the ChinaSat constellation since the ChinaSat 6C mission, which lifted off on September 3, 2019, aboard a CZ-3B\/E.<\/p>\n
Space Technology (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n The Chang Zheng 3B\/E is an upgraded version of the three-stage Chang Zheng 3B, with enhancements including a slightly larger and more powerful first stage and upgraded side-mounted boosters. The first stage measures 24.76 meters in length and 3.35 meters in diameter and is equipped with four YF-21C engines.<\/p>\n The YF-21C is an upgraded version of the earlier YF-20C engine. It is an open-cycle engine that burns hypergolic propellants: unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) propellant oxidized by dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4). Each engine produces about 740 kN of thrust at sea level with a specific impulse (isp) \u2013 the measure of its efficiency \u2013 of 259 seconds. In a vacuum, the engines can deliver 820 kN of thrust with an isp of 289 seconds. To steer the first stage, each engine can gimbal by ten degrees.<\/p>\n Chang Zheng 3B prior to integration (credit: Xie Qiyong)<\/p>\n Attached to the first stage are four liquid-fueled boosters, each of which are 16.1 meters long with a diameter of 2.25 meters. A single YF-25 engine \u2013 a version of the YF-20 engine modified specifically for use on the boosters \u2013 powers each of the boosters, providing 740 kN of thrust per booster with a specific impulse of 260 seconds at sea level.<\/p>\n With both the first stage and the four boosters firing at liftoff, Chang Zheng 3B\/E is powered aloft by 5,920 kN of thrust.<\/p>\n Chang Zheng 3B\/E\u2019s second stage measures 12.92 meters in length and 3.35 meters in diameter. Also running on N2O4 and UDMH, this stage is equipped with a single YF-24E engine cluster. This consists of a single YF-22E main engine and four YF-23E vernier engines for roll, pitch, and yaw control.<\/p>\n The YF-22E is a vacuum optimized version of the YF-20, producing roughly 820 kN of thrust while the Vernier thrusters produce 47 kN of thrust each.<\/p>\n To allow it to reach geostationary orbit, the CZ-3B\/E uses a high-efficiency third stage burning liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX). This is 12.38 meters long and 3.0 meters in diameter. Equipped with a pair of YF-75 open-cycle engines, the stage produces about 170 kN of thrust with 438 seconds of ISP and can fire for up to 478 seconds.<\/p>\n CZ-3B on the launch pad at Xichang prior to Friday\u2019s mission (credit: Xie Qiyong)<\/p>\n The Chang Zheng 3B and 3B\/E can also fly in a four-stage configuration with an optional hypergolic-propellant YZ-1 upper stage. This can be used to perform orbit circularization to inject satellites directly into their operational orbits and is primarily used on missions carrying Beidou navigation satellites.<\/p>\n The ChinaSat 6D launch is the first of two that China will carry out in quick succession, with another rocket \u2013 most likely a Chang Zheng 4C \u2013 scheduled to lift off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at approximately 18:15 UTC.<\/p>\n (Lead image: Chang Zheng 3B lifts off from Xichang)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China has successfully launched the ChinaSat 6D satellite into geostationary transfer orbit Friday via their Chang Zheng 3B\/E rocket. The launch took place at 12:00 UTC (8:00 PM local time) from Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The ChinaSat 6D satellite, also known as Zhongxing 6D, was deployed into orbit by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[1886,7906,2550,8105,1888,1741],"class_list":["post-24645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-calt","tag-chang-zheng-3b","tag-chinasat","tag-cz-3b","tag-long-march-3b","tag-xichang"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24645"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24645\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/cz3b-assembly.jpg\")
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