China successfully completed the first launch of its new Long March 8 medium-lift rocket on Tuesday. Eventually, it is also possible that these launchers will be reusable.
The Long March 8 has officially joined the list of Chinese launchers in operation. The rocket lifted off from the Wenchang launch site in southern China at 12:37 p.m. local time on Tuesday, Dec. 22, according to state media. Objective:to release five test satellites into orbits synchronous with the Sun. This launch had been delayed for two days due to weather conditions.
The Long March 8 incorporates the new generation of rockets aimed at replacing the aging Long March 2, 3 and 4 launchers, developed at the start of the Chinese space program. These new rockets started flying in 2015.
The launcher consists of two stages accompanied by two solid propellant boosters. Note that all the components of this rocket are actually already implemented by other Chinese launchers. The two boosters, for example, are based on the Long March 11 light launcher stages, while the H-18 second stage is similar to that of the Long March 3A launcher.
The first stage is also the same as that of the Long March 7. On the other hand, the latter has been slightly modified so as to allow its reuse in the future thanks to thrusters from extra (like SpaceX with its Falcon 9). The two rocket engines burning a semi-cryogenic mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen have also been modified to allow maneuvers when returning to Earth. Finally, airbrakes and landing gear were also added to the structure.
Note that for this specific flight, the launcher obviously did not return to Earth. On the other hand, it is indeed the goal in the future.
Finally this launcher, 50.3 meters high, will be capable of delivering 7.6 tons of payload to low orbit, 4.5 tons to sun-synchronous orbit and 2.5 tons to geostationary transfer orbit.
“The Long March 8 rocket is designed for the international commercial space launch market and is expected to fill a gap in the launch capabilities of low and medium orbit satellites “said Chinese state media provider CGTN. "A future variant of the Long March 8 will be reusable, significantly reducing costs and launch cycles ". With this booster, China expects a capacity of launches every ten days.
