The Long March rockets are a family of

expendable launch system An expendable launch system (or expendable launch vehicle/ELV) is a launch vehicle that can be launched only once, after which its components are either destroyed during reentry or discarded in space. ELVs typically consist of several rocket sta ...

rockets operated by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The rockets are named after the Chinese Red Army's 1934–35 Long March military retreat during the Chinese Civil War. 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 The Long March 1 (长征一号), also known as the Changzheng-1 (CZ-1), was the first member of China's Long March rocket family. Like the U.S.'s and the Soviet Union's first rockets, it was based on a class of ballistic missiles, namely the D ...

rocket to launch its first satellite,

Dong Fang Hong 1 ''Dong Fang Hong 1'' (), in the western world also known as China 1 or PRC 1, was the first space satellite of the People's Republic of China (PRC), launched successfully on 24 April 1970 as part of the PRC's Dongfanghong space satellite prog ...

(lit. "The East is Red 1"), into low Earth orbit 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

was quickly replaced by the

Long March 2 Long March 2 rocket family or Chang Zheng 2 rocket family as in Chinese pinyin is an expendable launch system operated by the People's Republic of China. The rockets use the abbreviations LM-2 family for export, and CZ-2 family within Chi ...

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 Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...

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 AsiaSat 1 was a Hong Kong communications satellite, which was owned, and was operated, by the Hong Kong based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Company. It was positioned in geostationary orbit at a longitude of 100.5° East. It spent its oper ...

, 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 in 1990 as the first foreign payload on a Chinese rocket. However, major setbacks occurred in 1992–1996. The Long March 2E 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 Apstar 2 was a communications satellite based on the Hughes HS-601 spacecraft design, built by Hughes Space and Communications Company for APT Satellite Holdings, a Hong-Kong based company. The satellite was intended to provide video, radio, data, ...

satellites and damaged AsiaSat 2. The Long March 3B 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 Intelsat 708 was a telecommunications satellite built by the American company Space Systems/Loral for Intelsat. It was destroyed on February 15, 1996 when the Long March 3B launch vehicle failed while being launched from the Xichang Satellite ...

satellite was also destroyed. A Long March 3 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

and

investigations caused great controversy in the United States. In the Cox Report, the United States Congress accused Space Systems/Loral and

Hughes Aircraft Company The Hughes Aircraft Company was a major American aerospace and defense contractor founded on February 14, 1934 by Howard Hughes in Glendale, California, as a division of Hughes Tool Company. The company was known for producing, among other produ ...

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 has not approved any satellite export licenses to China since 1998. ChinaSat 8, which had been scheduled for launch in April 1999 on a Long March 3B rocket, was placed in storage, sold to the Singapore company ProtoStar, and finally launched on a European rocket

Ariane 5 Ariane 5 is a European heavy-lift space launch vehicle developed and operated by Arianespace for the European Space Agency (ESA). It is launched from the Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in French Guiana. It has been used to deliver payloads int ...

in 2008. From 2005 to 2012, Long March rockets launched ITAR-free satellites made by the European company Thales Alenia Space. 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. Thales Alenia Space had long complained that "every satellite nut and bolt" was being ITAR-restricted, and the

European Space Agency , owners = , headquarters = Paris, Île-de-France, France , coordinates = , spaceport = Guiana Space Centre , seal = File:ESA emblem seal.png , seal_size = 130px , image = Views in the Main Control Room (1205 ...

(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 rocket successfully launched the ''

Shenzhou 5 Shenzhou 5 (, see § Etymology) was the first human spaceflight mission of the Chinese space program, launched on 15 October 2003. The Shenzhou spacecraft was launched on a Long March 2F launch vehicle. There had been four previous flights ...

'' spacecraft, carrying China's first astronaut into space. China became the third nation with independent

human spaceflight Human spaceflight (also referred to as manned spaceflight or crewed spaceflight) is spaceflight with a crew or passengers aboard a spacecraft, often with the spacecraft being operated directly by the onboard human crew. Spacecraft can also be ...

capability, after the Soviet Union/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"

lunar Lunar most commonly means "of or relating to the Moon". Lunar may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Lunar'' (series), a series of video games * "Lunar" (song), by David Guetta * "Lunar", a song by Priestess from the 2009 album ''Prior t ...

orbiting spacecraft from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. 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 Chang'e ( ; , alternatively rendered as Chang-Er or Ch‘ang-o), originally known as Heng'e, is the Chinese goddess of the Moon. She is the subject of several legends in Chinese mythology, most of which incorporate several of the following elem ...

lunar orbiters are also launched on the Long March rocket. The maximum payload for

LEO Leo or Léo may refer to: Acronyms * Law enforcement officer * Law enforcement organisation * ''Louisville Eccentric Observer'', a free weekly newspaper in Louisville, Kentucky * Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity Arts an ...

is 25,000 kilograms (CZ-5B), the maximum payload for GTO is 14,000 kg (CZ-5). The next generation rocket Long March 5 variants will offer more payload in the future.

Propellants

's 1st and 2nd stage used nitric acid and Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) propellants, and its upper stage used a spin-stabilized solid rocket engine.

, Long March 3,

Long March 4 The Long March rockets are a family of expendable launch system rockets operated by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The rockets are named after the Chinese Red Army's 1934–35 Long March military retreat during the Ch ...

, the main stages and associated liquid rocket boosters use

dinitrogen tetroxide Dinitrogen tetroxide, commonly referred to as nitrogen tetroxide (NTO), and occasionally (usually among ex-USSR/Russia rocket engineers) as amyl, is the chemical compound N2O4. It is a useful reagent in chemical synthesis. It forms an equilibrium ...

(N₂O₄) as the oxidizing agent and UDMH as the fuel. The upper stages (third stage) of Long March 3 rockets use YF-73 and YF-75 engines, using Liquid hydrogen (LH₂) as the fuel and Liquid oxygen (LOX) as the oxidizer. The new generation of Long March rocket family, Long March 5, and its derivations Long March 6, Long March 7 use LOX and kerosene as core stage and liquid booster propellant, with LOX and LH₂ in upper stages. Long March 11 is a

solid-fuel rocket A solid-propellant rocket or solid rocket is a rocket with a rocket engine that uses solid propellants ( fuel/oxidizer). The earliest rockets were solid-fuel rockets powered by gunpowder; they were used in warfare by the Arabs, Chinese, Persian ...

Variants

The Long March rockets are organized into several series: *

* Long March 3 *

* Long March 5 * Long March 6 * Long March 7 *

Long March 8 Long March 8 () is an orbital launch vehicle developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology to launch up to 5000 kg to a 700 km altitude Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The rocket is based on the Long March 7 , stages ...

* Long March 9 * Long March 11 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 u ...

engines, which burns RP-1 / LOX, unlike earlier 2, 3 and 4 series which uses more expensive and dangerous N₂O₄ / UDMH propellants. The 5 series is a heavy-lift launch vehicle, with a capacity of 25,000 kg to LEO while the 6 series is a small-lift launch vehicle with a capacity of 1,500 kg to LEO, and the 7 series is a

medium-lift launch vehicle A medium-lift launch vehicle (MLV) is a rocket launch vehicle that is capable of lifting between by NASA classification or between by Russian classification of payload into low Earth orbit (LEO).50t payloads" An MLV is between small-lift laun ...

, 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 A Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), also called a heliosynchronous orbit, is a nearly polar orbit around a planet, in which the satellite passes over any given point of the planet's surface at the same local mean solar time. More technically, it is ...

(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) 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 low Earth orbit (LEO), 50,000 kg to

trans-lunar injection A trans-lunar injection (TLI) is a propulsive maneuver used to set a spacecraft on a trajectory that will cause it to arrive at the Moon. History The first space probe to attempt TLI was the Soviet Union's Luna 1 on January 2, 1959 which wa ...

or 44,000 kg to Mars. 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 super heavy-lift launch vehicle can lift to low Earth orbit more than by United States (NASA) classification or by Russian classification. It is the most capable launch vehicle classification by mass to orbit, exceeding that of the heavy-lif ...

. 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 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

rocket is derived from earlier Chinese 2-stage

Intermediate-range ballistic missile An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km (1,864–3,418 miles), between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ba ...

(IRBM)

DF-4 The Dong Feng 4 () or DF-4 (also known as the CSS-3) is a first-generation two-stage Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile with liquid fuel (Nitric acid/Unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine). It was thought to be deployed in limited numbers in ...

, or Dong Feng 4 missile, and

, Long March 3,

rocket families are derivatives of the Chinese 2-stage

Intercontinental ballistic missile An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons c ...

(ICBM)

DF-5 The Dongfeng 5 () or DF-5 is a second-generation two stage Chinese intercontinental ballistic missile. It has a length of 32.6 m and a diameter of 3.35 m. It weighs in at 183,000 kilograms and it has an estimated range of 12,000 to 15,000 kilome ...

, 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 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 First strike most commonly refers to: * Pre-emptive nuclear strike * Pre-emptive war First strike may also refer to: * ''First Strike'' (1996 film), also known as ''Jackie Chan's First Strike'' or ''Police Story 4: First Strike'', an action movie ...

. 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 fuel Solid fuel refers to various forms of solid material that can be burnt to release energy, providing heat and light through the process of combustion. Solid fuels can be contrasted with liquid fuels and gaseous fuels. Common examples of solid fuels ...

led. The next generation of Long March rocket, Long March 5 rocket family, is a brand new design, while Long March 6 and Long March 7 can be seen as derivations because they use the liquid rocket booster design of Long March 5 to build small-to-mid capacity launch vehicles.

Launch sites

There are four launch centers in China. They are: * Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center * Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center *

Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site The Wenchang Space Launch Site ( zh, 文昌航天发射场, links=no), located in Wenchang, Hainan, China, is a rocket launch site — one of the two spacecraft launch sites of Xichang Satellite Launch Center (the other site is in Xichang, ...

* Xichang Satellite Launch Center Most of the commercial satellite launches of Long March vehicles have been from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, located in Xichang, Sichuan province.

in Hainan 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 Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in

Gansu Gansu (, ; alternately romanized as Kansu) is a province in Northwest China. Its capital and largest city is Lanzhou, in the southeast part of the province. The seventh-largest administrative district by area at , Gansu lies between the Tibet ...

province from which the crewed Shenzhou spacecraft also launches. Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center is located in

Shanxi Shanxi (; ; formerly romanised as Shansi) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the North China region. The capital and largest city of the province is Taiyuan, while its next most populated prefecture-lev ...

province and focuses on the launches of

(SSO) satellites. On 5 June 2019, China launched a Long March 11 rocket from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea.

Commercial launch services

China markets launch services under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (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, Thales Alenia Space 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 International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) is a United States regulatory regime to restrict and control the export of defense and military related Military technology, technologies to safeguard National security of the United States, U.S. ...

(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, "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