The Long March rockets are a family of expendable launch system

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

s operated by the

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, or CASC, is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has subsidiaries which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategi ...

. The rockets are named after the

Chinese Red Army The Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army or Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Revolutionary Army, commonly known as the Chinese Red Army or simply the Red Army, are the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party. It was formed when Communis ...

's 1934–35

Long March The Long March (, lit. ''Long Expedition'') was a military retreat undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to evade the pursuit of the National Army of the Chinese ...

military retreat during the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led government of the Republic of China and forces of the Chinese Communist Party, continuing intermittently since 1 August 1927 until 7 December 1949 with a Communist victory on m ...

. The Long March series has performed more than 350 launches, including missions to low-Earth orbit, sun-synchronous orbit, geostationary transfer orbit, and Earth-moon transfer orbit. The new-generation carrier rockets, Long March 5, Long March 6, Long March 7, Long March 11, and Long March 8, have made their maiden flights. Among them, the Long March 5 has a low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of 25,000 kilograms, and a geosynchronous transfer orbit carrying capacity of 14,000 kilograms.

History

China used the Long March 1 rocket to launch its first

satellite A satellite or artificial satellite is an object intentionally placed into orbit in outer space. Except for passive satellites, most satellites have an electricity generation system for equipment on board, such as solar panels or radioi ...

, Dong Fang Hong 1 (lit. "The East is Red 1"), into

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...

on 24 April 1970, becoming the fifth nation to achieve independent launch capability. Early launches had an inconsistent record, focusing on the launching of Chinese satellites. The Long March 1 was quickly replaced by the Long March 2 family of launchers. File:Changzheng-1 Rocket Model in Victoria Park, Hong Kong.jpg, Long March 1 File:Changzheng-1 Rocket Model in Victoria Park, Hong Kong (2).jpg, Long March 1 engine

Entry into commercial launch market

After the U.S. Space Shuttle ''Challenger'' was destroyed in 1986, a growing commercial backlog gave China the chance to enter the international launch market. In September 1988,

U.S. President The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

Ronald Reagan agreed to allow U.S. satellites to be launched on Chinese rockets. Reagan's satellite export policy would continue to 1998, through Bush and Clinton administrations, with 20 or more approvals. AsiaSat 1, which had originally been launched by the Space Shuttle and retrieved by another Space Shuttle after a failure, was launched by a

Long March 3 The Long March 3 (), also known as the Changzheng 3, CZ-3 and LM-3, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. They were all launched from Launch Area 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It was a three-stage rocket, and was mostly used ...

in 1990 as the first foreign payload on a Chinese rocket. However, major setbacks occurred in 1992–1996. The

Long March 2E The Long March 2E, also known as the Chang Zheng 2E, CZ-2E and LM-2E, was a Chinese orbital carrier rocket from the Long March 2 family. The Long March 2E was a three-stage carrier rocket that was designed to launch commercial communications s ...

was designed with a defective payload fairing, which collapsed when faced with the rocket's excessive vibration. After just seven launches, the Long March 2E destroyed the Optus B2 and Apstar 2 satellites and damaged

AsiaSat 2 AsiaSat 2 was a Hong Kong communications satellite, which was owned, and was initially operated, by the Hong Kong based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company. It was positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 17° East of the Gree ...

. The

Long March 3B The Long March 3B (, ''Chang Zheng 3B''), also known as the CZ-3B and LM-3B, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. A three-stage rock ...

also experienced a catastrophic failure in 1996, veering off course shortly after liftoff and crashing into a nearby village. At least 6 people were killed on the ground, and the Intelsat 708 satellite was also destroyed. A

also experienced a partial failure in August 1996 during the launch of Chinasat-7. Six Long March rockets ( Chang Zheng 2C/SD) launched 12

Iridium satellites The Iridium satellite constellation provides L band voice and data information coverage to satellite phones, pagers and integrated transceivers over the entire surface of Earth. Iridium Communications owns and operates the constellation, addit ...

, about a sixth of Iridium satellites in the original fleet.

United States embargo on Chinese launches

The involvement of United States companies in the Apstar 2 and Intelsat 708 investigations caused great controversy in the United States. In the

Cox Report The Report of the Select Committee on U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China, commonly known as the Cox Report after Representative Christopher Cox, is a classified U.S. government docum ...

, the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

accused

Space Systems/Loral SSL, formerly Space Systems/Loral, LLC (SS/L), of Palo Alto, California, is a wholly owned manufacturing subsidiary of Maxar Technologies. SSL designs and builds satellites and space systems for a wide variety of government and commercial cus ...

and Hughes Aircraft Company of transferring information that would improve the design of Chinese rockets and ballistic missiles. Although the Long March was allowed to launch its commercial backlog, the

United States Department of State The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...

has not approved any satellite export licenses to China since 1998. ChinaSat 8, which had been scheduled for launch in April 1999 on a

rocket, was placed in storage, sold to the Singapore company

ProtoStar A protostar is a very young star that is still gathering mass from its parent molecular cloud. The protostellar phase is the earliest one in the process of stellar evolution. For a low-mass star (i.e. that of the Sun or lower), it lasts about 50 ...

, and finally launched on a European rocket Ariane 5 in 2008. From 2005 to 2012, Long March rockets launched ITAR-free satellites made by the European company

Thales Alenia Space Thales Alenia Space () is a Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer. A joint venture between the French technology corporation Thales Group (67%) and Italian defense conglomerate Leonardo (33%), the company is the largest satellite manufactur ...

. However, Thales Alenia was forced to discontinue its ITAR-free satellite line in 2013 after the United States State Department fined a United States company for selling ITAR components.

had long complained that "every satellite nut and bolt" was being ITAR-restricted, and the European Space Agency (ESA) accused the United States of using ITAR to block exports to China instead of protecting technology. In 2016, an official at the United States Bureau of Industry and Security confirmed that "no U.S.-origin content, regardless of significance, regardless of whether it is incorporated into a foreign-made item, can go to China". The European aerospace industry is working on developing replacements for United States satellite components.

Return to success

After the failures of 1992–1996, the troublesome Long March 2E was withdrawn from the market. Design changes were made to improve the reliability of Long March rockets. From October 1996 to April 2009, the Long March rocket family delivered 75 consecutive successful launches, including several major milestones in space flight: * On 15 October 2003, the

Long March 2F The Long March 2F ( ''Changzheng 2F''), also known as the CZ-2F, LM-2F and Shenjian (, "Divine Arrow"), is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March 2 rocket family. Designed to launch crewed Shenzhou spacecraft, the Long Mar ...

rocket successfully launched the '' Shenzhou 5'' spacecraft, carrying China's first astronaut into space. China became the third nation with independent human spaceflight capability, after the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

/Russia and the United States. * On 1 June 2007, Long March rockets completed their 100th launch overall. * On 24 October 2007, the

Long March 3A The Long March 3A (), also known as the Chang Zheng 3A, CZ-3A and LM-3A, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. It is a 3-stage rocket, and is usually used to place communications satellites and Beidou navigation satellites into geosynchron ...

successfully launched (10:05 UTC) the "

Chang'e 1 Chang'e 1 (; ) was an unmanned Chinese lunar-orbiting spacecraft, part of the first phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program. The spacecraft was named after the Chinese Moon goddess, Chang'e. Chang'e 1 was launched on 24 October 2007 at 1 ...

" lunar orbiting

spacecraft A spacecraft is a vehicle or machine designed to fly in outer space. A type of artificial satellite, spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, p ...

from the

Xichang Satellite Launch Center The Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC), also known as the Xichang Space Center, is a spaceport of China. It is located in Zeyuan Town (), approximately northwest of Xichang, Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan. The facility bec ...

. The Long March rockets have subsequently maintained an excellent reliability record. Since 2010, Long March launches have made up 15–25% of all space launches globally. Growing domestic demand has maintained a healthy manifest. International deals have been secured through a package deal that bundles the launch with a Chinese satellite, circumventing the United States embargo.

Payloads

The Long March is China's primary expendable launch system family. The Shenzhou spacecraft and Chang'e lunar orbiters are also launched on the Long March rocket. The maximum payload for LEO is 25,000 kilograms (CZ-5B), the maximum payload for GTO is 14,000 kg (CZ-5). The next generation rocket

Long March 5 Long March 5 (LM-5; zh, s=长征五号 , p=Chángzhēng wǔ hào), or Changzheng 5 (CZ-5), and also by its nickname "''Pang-Wu''" (胖五, "''Fat-Five''"), is a Chinese heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehic ...

variants will offer more payload in the future.

Propellants

Long March 1's 1st and 2nd stage used

nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...

and

Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH; 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, НДМГ or codenamed Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is used as a rocket propellant. It is a colorless liquid, with a sharp, fishy, ammonia-like smell ...

(UDMH) propellants, and its upper stage used a spin-stabilized solid rocket engine. Long March 2,

, Long March 4, the main stages and associated

liquid rocket booster A liquid rocket booster (LRB) uses liquid fuel and oxidizer to give a liquid-propellant or hybrid rocket an extra boost at take-off, and/or increase the total payload that can be carried. It is attached to the side of a rocket. Unlike solid rock ...

s use dinitrogen tetroxide (N₂O₄) as the

oxidizing agent An oxidizing agent (also known as an oxidant, oxidizer, electron recipient, or electron acceptor) is a substance in a redox chemical reaction that gains or " accepts"/"receives" an electron from a (called the , , or ). In other words, an oxi ...

and

UDMH Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH; 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, НДМГ or codenamed Geptil) is a chemical compound with the formula H2NN(CH3)2 that is used as a rocket propellant. It is a colorless liquid, with a sharp, fishy, ammonia-like smell ...

as the fuel. The upper stages (third stage) of Long March 3 rockets use

YF-73 The YF-73 was China's first successful cryogenic liquid hydrogen fuel and liquid oxygen oxidizer gimballed engine. It was used on the Long March 3 H8 third stage, running on the simple gas generator A gas generator is a device for generating ...

and

YF-75 The YF-75 is a liquid cryogenic rocket engine burning liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in a gas generator cycle. It is China's second generation of cryogenic propellant engine, after the YF-73, which it replaced. It is used in a dual engin ...

engines, using

Liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen (LH2 or LH2) is the liquid state of the element hydrogen. Hydrogen is found naturally in the molecular H2 form. To exist as a liquid, H2 must be cooled below its critical point of 33 K. However, for it to be in a fully l ...

(LH₂) as the fuel and

Liquid oxygen Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an app ...

(LOX) as the oxidizer. The new generation of Long March rocket family,

, and its derivations

Long March 6 The Long March 6 () or Chang Zheng 6 as in pinyin, abbreviated LM 6 for export or CZ 6 within China, is a Chinese liquid-fuelled launch vehicle of the Long March family, which was developed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corpor ...

Long March 7 , stages = {{plainlist, * CZ-7: Two * CZ-7A: Three {{cite web, url=https://www.space.com/china-space-program-new-long-march-rockets.html, last=Jones, first=Andrew, title=China prepares to launch new rockets as part of push to boost spac ...

use

LOX Liquid oxygen—abbreviated LOx, LOX or Lox in the aerospace, submarine and gas industries—is the liquid form of molecular oxygen. It was used as the oxidizer in the first liquid-fueled rocket invented in 1926 by Robert H. Goddard, an appli ...

and

kerosene Kerosene, paraffin, or lamp oil is a combustible hydrocarbon liquid which is derived from petroleum. It is widely used as a fuel in aviation as well as households. Its name derives from el, κηρός (''keros'') meaning "wax", and was regi ...

as core stage and liquid booster propellant, with

and LH₂ in upper stages.

Long March 11 The Long March 11 (), or Chang Zheng 11 as in pinyin, abbreviated LM-11 for export or CZ-11 within China (and designated 11H when launched from sea), is a Chinese four stage solid-propellant carrier rocket of the Long March family, which is ...

is a solid-fuel rocket.

Variants

The Long March rockets are organized into several series: * Long March 1 * Long March 2 *

* Long March 4 *

* Long March 8 *

Long March 9 Long March 9 (, LM-9 or Changzheng 9, CZ-9) is a Chinese super-heavy carrier rocket concept that is currently under development. It is the ninth iteration of the Long March rocket family, named for the Chinese Red Army's 1934–35 Long March cam ...

There is no Long March 10. The Long March 5, 6 and 7 are a newer generation of rockets sharing the new 1200 kN class

YF-100 The YF-100 is a Chinese liquid rocket engine burning LOX and kerosene in an oxidizer-rich staged combustion cycle. Development of the engine began in the 2000s, along with its sibling, the smaller YF-115, which would power the LM-6 and LM-7 ...

engines, which burns

RP-1 RP-1 (alternatively, Rocket Propellant-1 or Refined Petroleum-1) is a highly refined form of kerosene outwardly similar to jet fuel, used as rocket fuel. RP-1 provides a lower specific impulse than liquid hydrogen (LH2), but is cheaper, is s ...

, unlike earlier 2, 3 and 4 series which uses more expensive and dangerous N₂O₄ /

propellants. The 5 series is a

heavy-lift launch vehicle A heavy-lift launch vehicle, HLV or HLLV, is an orbital launch vehicle capable of lifting between (by NASA classification) or between (by Russian classification) into low Earth orbit (LEO).50t payloads" , operational heavy-lift launch vehicl ...

, with a capacity of 25,000 kg to LEO while the 6 series is a

small-lift launch vehicle A small-lift launch vehicle is a rocket orbital launch vehicle that is capable of lifting or less (by NASA classification) or under (by Roscosmos classification) of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO). The next larger category consists of med ...

with a capacity of 1,500 kg to LEO, and the 7 series is a medium-lift launch vehicle, with a capacity of 14,000 kg to LEO. The 8 series is a new partially-renewable rocket with a capacity of 8,100 kg to LEO. GPO comparison of Long March rockets

Long March 8

The Long March 8 is a new series of launch vehicles, which is geared towards Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) launches. In early 2017, it was expected to be based on the Long March 7, and have two solid fuel boosters, and first launch by the end of 2018. By 2019, it was intended to be partially reusable. The first stage will have legs and grid fins (like

Falcon 9 Falcon 9 is a partially reusable medium lift launch vehicle that can carry cargo and crew into Earth orbit, produced by American aerospace company SpaceX. The rocket has two stages. The first (booster) stage carries the second stage and pay ...

) and it may land with side boosters still attached.''Meet the Long March 8'' - January 2020
Includes CGI image of first stage landing The first Long March 8 was rolled out to for a test launch on or around 20 December 2020 and launched on 22 December 2020. The second flight with no side boosters occurred on 27 February 2022, sending a national record of 22 satellites into SSO.

Future development

Long March 9

The Long March 9 (LM-9, CZ-9, or Changzheng 9, Chinese: 长征九号) is a Chinese super-heavy carrier rocket concept proposed in 2018 that is currently in study. It is planned for a maximum payload capacity of 140,000 kg to

(LEO), 50,000 kg to trans-lunar injection or 44,000 kg to

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...

. Its first flight is expected by 2028 or 2029 in preparation for a lunar landing sometime in the 2030s; a sample return mission from Mars has been proposed as first major mission. It has been stated that around 70% of the hardware and components needed for a test flight are currently undergoing testing, with the first engine test to occur by the end of 2018. The 2011 proposed design would be a three-staged rocket, with the initial core having a diameter of 10 meters and use a cluster of four engines. Multiple variants of the rocket have been proposed, CZ-9 being the largest with four liquid-fuel boosters with the aforementioned LEO payload capacity of 140,000 kg, CZ-9A having just two boosters and a LEO payload capacity of 100,000 kg, and finally CZ-9B having just the core stage and a LEO payload capacity of 50,000 kg. Approved in 2021, the Long March 9 is classified as a super heavy-lift launch vehicle. A very different design of LM-9 was announced in June 2021, with more engines and no external boosters. Payload capacities are 150 tonnes to LEO and 50 tonnes to TLI.

921 rocket

The "921 rocket", also known as the Long March 5G is under development for crewed lunar missions. The nickname "921" refers to the founding date of China's human spaceflight program. Like the Long March 5, it uses 5-meter (16.4 ft) diameter rocket bodies and

K engines, although with 7 engines on each of 3 cores. The launch weight is about 2200 tonnes, delivering 25 tonnes into trans-lunar injection. The proposed crewed lunar mission uses two rockets; the

crewed spacecraft This is a list of all crewed spacecraft types that have flown into space, including sub-orbital flights above 80 km, Space Stations that have been visited by at least one crew, and spacecraft currently planned to operate with crew in the f ...

and lunar landing stack launch separately and rendezvous in lunar orbit. Development was announced at the 2020 China Space Conference. As of 2022, the first flight of this triple-cored rocket is targeted for 2027.

Origins

The Long March 1 rocket is derived from earlier Chinese 2-stage Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) DF-4, or Dong Feng 4 missile, and Long March 2,

, Long March 4 rocket families are derivatives of the Chinese 2-stage Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) DF-5, or Dong Feng 5 missile. However, like its counterparts in both the United States and in Russia, the differing needs of space rockets and strategic missiles have caused the development of space rockets and missiles to diverge. The main goal of a

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload ( spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and ...

is to maximize payload, while for strategic missiles increased throw weight is much less important than the ability to launch quickly and to survive a first strike. This divergence has become clear in the next generation of Long March rockets, which use cryogenic propellants in sharp contrast to the next generation of strategic missiles, which are mobile and solid fuelled. The next generation of Long March rocket,

rocket family, is a brand new design, while

and

can be seen as derivations because they use the

design of

to build small-to-mid capacity launch vehicles.

Launch sites

There are four launch centers in China. They are: *

Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC; also known as Shuangchengzi Missile Test Center; Launch Complex B2; formally Northwest Comprehensive Missile Testing Facility (); Base 20; 63600 Unit) is a Chinese space vehicle launch facility ( sp ...

Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center (TSLC) also known as ''Base 25'' (), is a People's Republic of China space and defense launch facility (spaceport). It is situated in Kelan County, Xinzhou, Shanxi Province and is the second of four laun ...

* Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site *

Most of the commercial satellite launches of Long March vehicles have been from

, located in

Xichang Xichang, formerly known as Jiandu, Jianchang and Ningyuan(fu), is a city in and the seat of the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, in the south of Sichuan, China. In 2012 it had a population of 481,796. History The Qiongdu were the local peo ...

Sichuan Sichuan (; zh, c=, labels=no, ; zh, p=Sìchuān; alternatively romanized as Szechuan or Szechwan; formerly also referred to as "West China" or "Western China" by Protestant missions) is a province in Southwest China occupying most of the ...

province. Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in

Hainan Hainan (, ; ) is the smallest and southernmost province of the People's Republic of China (PRC), consisting of various islands in the South China Sea. , the largest and most populous island in China,The island of Taiwan, which is slightly l ...

province is under expansion and will be the main launch center for future commercial satellite launches. Long March launches also take place from the more military oriented

in Gansu province from which the crewed

Shenzhou spacecraft Shenzhou (, ; see ) is a spacecraft developed and operated by China to support its crewed spaceflight program, China Manned Space Program. Its design resembles the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, but it is larger in size. The first launch was on 19 ...

also launches.

is located in Shanxi province and focuses on the launches of Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) satellites. On 5 June 2019, China launched a

rocket from a mobile launch platform in the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. It is one of four seas named after common colour ter ...

Commercial launch services

China markets launch services under the

(China Great Wall Industry Corporation). Its efforts to launch communications satellites were dealt a blow in the mid-1990s after the United States stopped issuing export licenses to companies to allow them to launch on Chinese launch vehicles out of fear that this would help China's military. In the face of this,

built the Chinasat-6B satellite with no components from the United States whatsoever. This allowed it to be launched on a Chinese launch vehicle without violating United States International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) restrictions. The launch, on a Long March 3B rocket, was successfully conducted on 5 July 2007. A Chinese Long March 2D launched VRSS-1 (Venezuelan Remote Sensing Satellite-1) of

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

, "Francisco de Miranda" on 29 September 2012.

Notes

References

External links

Extensive information on the Chinese space program

{{Expendable launch systems Rocket families Space launch vehicles of China 1970 in spaceflight 1970 in China 1970 in technology Projects established in 1970 Chinese brands