Nation's space industry hits new heights

Launch records

In addition to the space station, China achieved another major space landmark last year by conducting 64 rocket launches, a national record.

Of the 64 liftoffs, 53 were completed by the Long March series of rockets. The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology carried out 30 launches, and the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology 23. Both are subsidiaries of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor.

It was the first time that China had conducted more than 60 rocket launches in a year. In 2021, it conducted 55 space launches, with the Long March series used for 48 of them.

The Long March 2D model, a product of the Shanghai academy, was used for 15 liftoffs last year, heading all Chinese rockets by number of annual flights.

Over the past year, two new Long March models conducted their first flights and entered service.

In late February, a modified version of the Long March 8 lifted off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on its maiden flight to transport 22 satellites into orbit, a record for the most spacecraft launched by a single Chinese rocket.

Before this mission, the nation's record for the most satellites launched by one rocket was held by the first flight of a Long March 6 in September 2015, which deployed 20 satellites.

Like the original Long March 8 model, the variant is 50.3 meters long and has a diameter of 3.35 meters. It is propelled by four engines — two on the first stage and two on the second — and has a liftoff weight of about 356 metric tons.

The rocket can transport satellites with a combined weight of 3 tons to sun-synchronous orbits. The major difference between the two models is that the new one does not have side boosters. Its fairing is also shorter than that of the original, according to the designers.

In late March, a Long March 6A made its first flight from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province.

Developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, the 50-meter-long rocket is China's first to use liquid-and solid-propellant engines as its main form of propulsion.

With a liftoff weight of 530 tons, it is tasked with transporting satellites into different types of orbit, including sun-synchronous, low-Earth and intermediate circular.

Despite being named the Long March 6A, the new model is far different from the Long March 6, which was also designed and built by the Shanghai academy.

The Long March 6, which is about 30 meters high and weighs 102 tons, is much smaller and lighter than the new model. First launched in September 2015, it has carried out 10 flights.

Long Lehao, a top rocket scientist at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said that about 27 percent of Long March flights last year were undertaken by new types of rocket developed in recent years.

"The fact that new-generation rockets have been widely used represents a big leap in our research, development and production capabilities in the carrier rocket field," he said.

In July, the rocket company CAS Space, which is based in Beijing and owned by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, carried out a successful debut flight of its ZK 1A rocket.

With a length of 30 meters, diameter of 2.65 meters and liftoff weight of 135 tons, the model is China's largest and most powerful solid-propellant rocket capable of sending satellites with a combined weight of 1.5 tons into a typical sun-synchronous orbit of about 500 km above Earth.

This year, the nation plans to carry out some 60 launch missions, including manned and robotic flights to the Tiangong space station and the maiden flight of the Long March 6C rocket, mission planners said.