China's Long March-5 rocket to resume flight in July
Global Times
By Deng Xiaoci Source:Global Times Published: 2019/1/29 20:48:40
China plans launch from Yellow Sea
More than 30 missions and 50 spacecraft will be launched into space in 2019, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said on Tuesday.
Shang Zhi, director of the corporation's department of astronautics, made the statement during a press conference on Tuesday.
The 2019 missions include the country's first-ever sea-based launch of its commercial use-oriented Long March-11 and the launch of a Long March Y3 carrier rocket. The Y3 comes after the heavy-lift Long March-5 Y2 which failed in 2017.
The Long March-5 Y2 rocket was launched from Wenchang Space Launch Center in South China's Hainan Province on July 2, 2017, but a malfunction happened less than six minutes after liftoff, the Xinhua News Agency reported.
If the launch proves successful this year, then the Long March-5 Y3 carrier "will play a key role in the development of the country's heavy-lift rocket, a significant turnaround from the previous unsuccessful attempt," Shang said.
If the Long March-5 Y3 rocket succeeds, then a Long March-5 Y4 rocket will be used to launch the Chang'e-5 lunar probe that is expected to bring lunar samples back to Earth.
The Long March-5 Y3 will be launched around July, and Long March-5 Y4 will be launched by the end of 2019, said Yang Baohua, corporation vice president.
Yellow Sea
CASC also plans to launch a Long March-11 carrier rocket from the Yellow Sea in 2019, a first in China's space history, Jin Xin, a leading CASC expert and the program's deputy commander-in-chief, told the Global Times on Tuesday.
The Long March-11 is the only solid launch vehicle in the Long March family, nearly 21 meters in length, Jin said, and has a takeoff thrust of 120 tons, capable of sending payloads into a sun-synchronous orbit 500 kilometers above Earth.
Jin noted that a successful sea launch would not only meet the increasing market needs for the launch of nanosatellites into low-Earth orbits, but also fill a void in the country's satellite launch capability between 0 degree and 19 degree low-Earth orbits.
As sea launch allows for a more flexible launch site, in line with commercial trends, he said. Future sea launches could even use civilian craft, measurement and control facilities, creating an open and sharing development system for the industry.
"Picking the country's Yellow Sea waters for the first sea launch attempt is to reduce launch technical difficulties and the launch service will expand to cover potential users from countries and regions along the routes of the Belt and Road initiative as the technology matures," Jin said.
China ranked first in the world with 39 rocket launches in 2018, while the second-placed US carried out 34, according to the Blue Book on China's Aerospace Science and Technology Activities released on Tuesday. CASC carried out 37 of the country's total 39 launch missions in 2018, and sent 105 crafts into space: 95 from home and 10 from abroad.
The other two were carried out by State-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp and the Beijing-based private rocket firm Landspace.
China has launched two rockets so far this year, placing five satellites in orbit, according to the space and astronomy news website space.com.
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