A modified version of China’s Long March 8 carrier rocket is scheduled to make its debut flight in the coming weeks to transport 22 satellites into orbit, a designer said.<\/p>\n
Chen Xiaofei, from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing, said on Wednesday that if the launch mission succeeds, it will set a record for the most spacecraft launched by a single Chinese rocket.<\/p>\n
Currently, the domestic record for the most satellites launched by a single rocket is held by the first flight of the Long March 6 model in September 2015, which deployed 20 satellites. The world record is held by SpaceX’s Falcon 9, which lifted 143 satellites in January last year.<\/p>\n
“The difference between the modified variant and the original Long March 8 is that the new model doesn’t have side boosters,” Chen said, noting that all of the 22 satellites to be launched are for commercial use.<\/p>\n
Like the original model, the variant is 50.3 meters long. It will be propelled by four engines\uff0dtwo on the first stage and two on the second\uff0dand will have a liftoff weight of 198 metric tons, Chen said.<\/p>\n
Long March 8’s original model performed its debut mission in December 2020 from a coastal launchpad at the Wenchang Space Launch Center in southern China’s Hainan province.<\/p>\n
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