At 15:08 on February 27, 2025, the Long March 2C carrier rocket carrying the 4D Gaojing-1 03 and 04 satellites was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Subsequently, the satellites successfully entered the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. Gaojing-1 is a remote sensing constellation operated by China 4D Surveying and Mapping Technology Co., Ltd. The satellite was developed by the Fifth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology. It has an orbital altitude of 500km and provides images with 0.5m panchromatic resolution and 2m multispectral resolution. The swath width is 12km, and the maximum single scene is 60km×70km. The Long March 2C is a two-stage conventional liquid launch vehicle developed by the First Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology. The following is part of the research and analysis of the Long March 2C launch vehicle:
1. Basic information
The Long March 2C launch vehicle is improved from the Long March 2 launch vehicle, which has improved reliability and carrying capacity. It is mainly used to launch satellites in low orbit and sun-synchronous orbit, and has the ability to launch satellites in various orbits from multiple launch sites. In 1976, the development of the Long March 2C carrier rocket started; on September 9, 1982, the Long March 2C carrier rocket was successfully launched for the first time.
2. Rocket composition
(1) Fairing
The Long March 2C launch vehicle is adapted to three types of fairings: 3350M, 3350L and 4200C. Both 3350M and 3350L are fiberglass skin material structural solutions, but 3350L adds a modular frame section with a height of 2361mm to the column section based on the 3350M, and also adds 2 sets of longitudinally separated explosive bolts. 4200C is a type of fairing that combines the front cone section and column section of the CZ-3B rocket fairing and the inverted cone section of the CZ-2F rocket fairing.
(2) First level
The first stage of the Long March 2C launch vehicle has a diameter of 3.35 m and a height of 26.822 m. It is equipped with a YF-21C engine. The YF-21C uses dinitrogen tetroxide/uniform dimethylhydrazine as propellant, with a sea level thrust of 2992.8 kN and a specific impulse of 261 s.
(3) Second level
The second stage of the Long March 2C launch vehicle has a diameter of 3.35 m and a height of 11.307 m. It is equipped with a set of YF-24C engines and uses dinitrogen tetroxide/uniform dimethylhydrazine as propellant. YF-24C uses YF-22C as the main engine and YF-23C as the cruise aircraft. The YF-22C has a vacuum thrust of 742 kN and a specific impulse of 300.2 s. The YF-23C has a vacuum thrust of 4×11.8 kN and a specific impulse of 289.2 s.
3. Launch record
So far, the Long March 2C carrier rocket has been launched a total of 82 times, of which 80 were successful, 1 was partially successful, and 1 was failed, with a success rate of 97.56%. At 17:28 on August 18, 2011, the Long March 2C carrier rocket carrying the Shijian-1104 satellite was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Due to the failure of the connection between the secondary flight segment III extension and the servo mechanism in the secondary flight section, the rocket’s secondary attitude became unstable and the launch mission failed. At 20:51 on March 13, 2024, the Long March 2C carrier rocket carrying DRO-A and DRO-B was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The first and second stages of the rocket flew normally. However, due to abnormal flight of the upper stage, the satellite did not accurately enter the predetermined orbit. Subsequently, after 167 days of disposal, the DRO-A/B combination successfully entered the DRO orbit, and the binary stars separated successfully.
4. Rocket Analysis
The Long March 2C launch vehicle is the rocket with the longest service life in my country. Many of my country’s rockets have the shadow of the Long March 2C launch vehicle. The Long March 2C plus three sub-stages of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellant are derived from the Long March 3. The Long March 2C plus three sub-stages of conventional propellants are derived from the Long March 4. The Long March 2C is bundled with four liquid boosters of the same type to be derived from the Long March 2E. The Long March 2E is further improved and optimized to be derived from the Long March 2F. As the most flexible and widely used launch vehicle in my country, the Long March 2C launch vehicle and its improved versions are the only launch vehicle in my country that has the capability to launch satellites in low-Earth orbit, sun-synchronous orbit, geosynchronous transfer orbit and large elliptical orbit. It is also the first rocket in my country to achieve international cooperation in space exploration, and has made significant contributions to the development of my country’s aerospace industry.
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