The following look at Chinese launch activities is excerpted from the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation’s new report, “The Annual Compendium of Commercial Space Transportation: 2012.” The excerpt includes a summary of 2012 launch activities, closer looks at the Long March 2 and 3 rockets, and a summary of the Long March 5, 6 and 7 launch vehicles now under development.

China Launch Activities in 2012

China conducted 19 orbital launches, including 2 commercial launches, in 2012—the same number as in 2011. Nine launches were conducted from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, five from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, and five from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. Table 31 summarizes 2012
Chinese launch activity by vehicle. More details on Chinese launches are below.

• Nine launches were for China’s military. These launches deployed five Beidou navigation satellites, five Yaogan remote sensing satellites, three scientific and development satellites, and one communications satellite, Chinasat 2A.

• Six launches were for China’s civil government agencies. One was a human misson: the Shenzhou 9 vehicle launched three crew, including China’s first female astronaut, and docked for the first time with the Tiangong 1 space module. The other five civil launches deployed satellites, including one meteorological satellite, three remote sensing satellites, and one communications satellite for CAST. A communications microsatellite, Vesselsat 2, for ORBCOMM was launched as a piggyback payload co-manifesting with one of the three remote sensing satellites (Ziyuan 3).

• Two launches were commercial. One launch deployed the APSTAR 7 satellite for APT Satellite Holdings Ltd. of Hong Kong. The second commercial launch deployed the Gökturk-2 satellite for Turkey’s Ministry of Defense.

• One non-commercial launch deployed the VRSS 1 satellite built by China for Venezuela, and another non-commercial launch deployed APSTAR 7B, the second satellite for APT Satellite Holdings Ltd. APSTAR 7B was originally ordered as a back-up to APSTAR 7. It was transferred to the Chinese Government and will be operated as Chinasat 12.

Editor’s Note: You will note that Chinese rockets have been extremely reliable over the past decade. They have experienced only 1 failure in 109 launches, which is a 99.08 percent success rate. It is a remarkable figure given how many launches have been done.

A Closer Look: Long March 2 and 3

Long March 2C. (Credit: CGWIC)

CGWIC: Long March 2

The Long March 2 is a small-class vehicle designed to address LEO and sunsynchronous orbit (SSO) missions. The two- to three-stage vehicle is built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) and marketed by China Great Wall Industry Corporation (CGWIC). Both organizations are subsidiaries of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The Long March 2C is available to commercial clients, and although the Long March 2D is not marketed commercially, a contract signed in 2012 indicates it is also commercially available.

The Long March 2D consists of two stages, while the Long March 2C features an upper stage. The first stage is powered by the YF-21C engine and the second stage by a YF-24 engine. The third stage, if used, is a solid motor designated 2804. A payload adapter and fairing complete the vehicle system. The Long March 2C has successfully flown 32 times since its introduction in 1975. The vehicle can launch from the Jiuquan, Taiyuan, and Xichang sites.

The Long March 2D has flown 11 times since 1992, each time successfully. It typically launches from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, but in 2014, the vehicle will launch from Xichang for the first time.

Long March 2: 2012 Highlights

In December, a Long March 2D successfully launched Gokturk-2, an Earth observation satellite for the Turkish military. In August, CGWIC signed a contract with the Spain-based Barcelona Moon Team for a Long March 2D flight expected in 2014 from Xichang. The payload will be a lunar rover in a bid to win the Google Lunar X PRIZE.

CGWIC: Long March 3A

Long March 3B. (Credit: CGWIC)

The Long March 3A is a modified version of the original Long March 3 vehicle, which was introduced in 1984 and is now discontinued. CGWIC markets the Long March 3A vehicle family for commercial use. Development and manufacturing of the Long March 3A vehicles are shared between the China Academy of Launch Vehicles (CALT) and SAST.

There are four versions of the three-stage Long March 3A. The Long March 3A consists of a core stage powered by four YF-21C engines, a second stage powered by a YF-24E engine, and a third stage powered by a YF-75 engine. The vehicle is topped with a payload adapter and fairing. The Long March 3B and Long March 3BE have the same core stage powered by four YF-21C engines, the same second stage powered by a YF-24E engine, and the same third stage powered by a YF-75 engine. The difference between the two is the type of liquid rocket boosters they use. The Long March 3C is the same as the Long March 3B, but with two liquid rocket boosters instead of four. A selection of four payload fairings is offered for all variants.

The Long March 3A vehicles launch from LC-2 or LC-3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The Long March 3A has successfully launched 23 times since 1994. The Long March 3B has launched 10 times (with 2 failures), and the Long March 3BE has launched 13 times successfully. The Long March 3C has launched 10 times successfully since it was introduced in 2008.

Long March 3A: 2012 Highlights

Nine Long March 3 missions launched in 2012. The one commercial launch carried ApStar 7 to a geosynchronous orbit (GEO) in March. CGWIC signed several contracts in 2012, including two that will use the Long March 3B to send CongoSat-01 and an APT satellite to GTO.

Future Chinese Launch Vehicles

Names: Long March 5, 6 and 7

Manufacturers: China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT)
and Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST)

Year of Introduction: 2014

Description: The newest generation of Long March vehicles will feature several variants based on interchangeable liquid-fueled stages.

The Long March 5 is a heavy-lift version featuring a core stage and combinations of strap-on boosters based on the cores of Long March 6 or 7. It will launch from the new Wenchang Satellite Launch Center on Hainan Island.

The Long March 6 is a three-stage, small-class vehicle. The first stage of this vehicle will be an optional strap-on liquid stage for the Long March 7.

The Long March 7 is a three-stage, medium-class vehicle featuring a core first stage and optional strap-on liquid boosters based on the Long March 6. It will likely replace the Long March 2F for human missions.

China’s surging space program moved into second place in 2012 in terms of both orbital launches and payloads, passing the United States and inching closer to Russia.

China successfully launched 19 rockets last year, placing a total of 30 payloads into orbit, according to an annual report released by the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST). Russia led all nations with 34 payloads on 24 launches, while the United States came in third with 28 payloads on 13 launches.

Russia continued to have quality control problems with its Proton rockets, with one Proton M suffering a failure and a second experiencing a partial failure. Twenty-two of Russia’s 24 domestic launches were conducted at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, with two Russian Special Forces missions launched from Plesetsk.

The U.S. total included two commercial launches by SpaceX with its Falcon 9 rocket, which sent Dragon freighters to the International Space Station. Although NASA paid for the flights, they are licensed by the FAA and categorized as being commercial launches.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) conducted 10 launches for U.S. government agencies, with six Atlas V launch vehicles and four Delta IV rockets. The company’s rockets launched nine payloads for the Department of Defense and one for NASA.

Orbital Sciences Corporation orbited the NuSTAR scientific satellite for NASA satellite using the Pegasus XL booster.

Europe was in fourth place overall with 25 payloads on 10 launch vehicles, including seven successful Ariane 5 flights. Europe’s total was boosted by two Russian Soyuz 2 rockets that were launched out of Kourou as well as the inaugural flight of the continent’s new Vega light launch vehicle. The two Soyuz launches are not counted as part of Russia’s totals.

Ukraine does not figure into the global launch totals, even though the nation built three Zenit boosters that successfully orbited communications satellites last year. These launches are listed as “Multinational” because the boosters are made for Sea Launch, a company that is 95 percent owned by Russia’s Energia company, and their launches licensed by the FAA because the ocean-going platform they use is based in the United States.

Japan launched two H-11 rockets with 10 payloads aboard last year, while India launched four payloads aboard two PSLV rockets. Relative newcomers Iran and North Korea had three and two launches, respectively.

Soviet-era rockets and their descendants continue to dominate the international launch market, accounting for 29 of the 78 launches last year. There were 14 launches of variants of the venerable Soyuz booster, which first flew in 1963. Proton rockets were used for an additional 11 launches. The Zenit 3SL placed three satellites into orbit. And the Rockot launch vehicle, which flew once in 2012, is a converted Soviet ICBM.

Commercial launches and payloads continue to be dominated by Russia and Europe:

• Russia continues to lead the world in placing commercial payloads into space, with seven commercial launches and 10 payloads.
• Europe was in second place with six commercial launches that placed seven commercial payloads into space.
• Sea Launch lofted three commercial satellites into orbit with three launches.
• China and the United States were tied with two commercial launches apiece that each placed three payloads into orbit. Both commercial launches were performed by SpaceX with its Falcon 9 rocket.

Commercial launch revenues continued to be dominated by Europe, which earned $1.32 billion in 2012. Europe was followed by Russia with $595 million, Sea Launch with $300 million, the United States with $108 million, and China with $90 million. The U.S. commercial revenues were from SpaceX launches.

Non-commercial launches continue to dominate, making up 58 of the 78 missions last year. A total of 139 payloads were launched last year, with 27 commercial satellites and 112 non-commercial ones.

Forty-two communications satellites were launched, making up 30 percent of the total. Five crewed launches occurred in 2012, four to the International Space Station and the fifth to China’s Tiangong-1 orbital facility.

Chinese Long March rocket.

The decision to relax controls on the export of U.S. satellites isn’t going over well in China, which remains on a list of nations to which these spacecraft cannot be exported, re-exported or transferred. Those restrictions ban China’s launch industry from placing U.S.-built satellites into orbit.

In remarks posted on the Ministry of Commerce website, Spokesman Shen Danyang “pointed out that the US once expressed that its reform of export control system would benefit China and promised to promote export of high-tech products to China for civil use. However, the US always exclude China from the benefited parties in its export control reform, and adopted measures to continue to restrict China-US cooperation on civil satellite field. China is deeply disappointed and dissatisfied with this result.

“Mr. Shen said that China hopes the US can practically fulfill its promise, change the discriminatory conducts against China, and pay attention to and address China’s concerns and materially relax export control against China in its export control reform. It will be conducive to expanding China-US bilateral trade and promoting trade balance between the two countries, which accords with the common interests of the two sides.”

a full moon rises over Half Moon Bay in California on Halloween 2009. (Credit: Douglas Messier)

Attention, Google Lunar X Prize competitors! China is looking to take $5 million out of one of your pockets. And they may not be anything you can do about it.

China has announced definitive plans to launch its Chang’e-3 lunar mission during the second half of 2013. The mission includes a lander as well as a six-wheeled rover that will explore the lunar surface.

If the mission is successful, then the first prize in the  Google-sponsored private moon race will decrease from $20 million to $15 million. There are also a $5 million second prize and several bonus prizes for achievements on the lunar surface.

Given what is currently known about the GLXP competitors, it seems unlikely that any team is in a position to beat the well-funded Chinese program to the moon by the end of next year.

Teams have until the end of 2015 to claim the prize before the competition turns into a pumpkin.

China’s new rocket engine has passed its 200-second test. The test took place in an open field 50 kilometres from Xi’an, capital of Shaan’xi province, in northwest China.

The engine was assembled three years ago and has already undergone two tests which lasted 600 seconds each. Sunday morning’s test was to determine if it remains in peak condition. The engine can carry a load of 25 tons. That’s 16 more than the engine in the Long March 2 F, which carried the Shenzhou-9 mission last month. The new engine is fuelled with kerosene and liquid oxygen. That enables a saving of almost 10 million yuan in propellant load.

China is the second country in the world to master the technology, after Russia. The engine will be used in the new Long March 5 rocket in 2014.

Chinese astronauts enter the Tiangong-1 space station.

While the Chinese celebrate the launch of a three-member crew to the Tiangong-1 space station, two former chairman of India’s space agency ISRO are looking on with both admiration and regret. As China’s program has moved slowly but steadily forward, India’s plans for human space missions have slipped from around 2016 into the early to mid-2020s.

India’s top space scientists praised China’s maiden mission of manned docking of its space lab even as New Delhi’s own human space flight programme seems to have lost momentum.

“It’s a wonderful thing that has happened,” ex-Chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, U R Rao told PTI here. “Essentially, they are making sure that they are going ahead systematically with manned mission programme”. …

He said India has not started any manned mission programme at all. “We have to have much larger and much more powerful launch vehicle,” Rao said.

Another former ISRO Chairman, G Madhavan Nair said China is marching forward in manned space programme with a lot of aggression….

“We had picked up momentum after the Chandrayaan mission. Precious three years have been lost. As far as India is concerned, we have missed a great opportunity. By this time, we would gone half-way through (if we started three years ago),” Nair said.

Nair’s claim is rather suspect. Chandrayaan-1 was a small lunar orbiter that failed nine months into a two-year mission. It’s success certainly gave ISRO political momentum at the time, but it’s a far cry from being able to pursue a vastly more difficult human program.

As much as Nair would like to believe that ISRO could have moved ahead aggressively to catch up with China if he had continued as ISRO chairman (he left without explanation in October 2009 about two months after Chandrayaan-1′s mission ended), I have serious doubts about that based on ISRO’s overall performance, which has been plagued by technological failures and program slips. My best guess is that if ISRO had seriously started on a human program back in 2009, they’d be running three years behind schedule by now.

The main problem, as Rao points out, is that ISRO has no rockets capable of lifting astronauts into orbit. In fact, the space agency can’t even launch medium-sized spacecraft reliably. ISRO’s largest rocket, GSLV, has placed three satellites into Bay of Bengal, two spacecraft into lower-than-planned orbits, and only two other payloads into their proper orbits.

ISRO has managed only seven GSLV launches in 11 years, which is hardly an aggressive schedule. By the time the next GSLV flies in December, two years will have passed since the the rocket’s most recent flight, which was a failure. Meanwhile, development of the much larger GLSV-Mark III, which could carry astronauts, is moving very slowly. It is schedule for its first test flight this year, but the schedule shows a long gap before the next one.

A nation that hasn’t mastered liquid-fuel rocket technology has little business going forward with an aggressive human spaceflight program. It’s easy to imagine that the bureaucrats and politicians who formulate India’s overall budget looked at ISRO’s record and decided not to give the green light for such an expensive and complex program.

For India to truly join the ranks of the world’s major space powers, it has to be able to access space on a regular basis with something more powerful than the solid-fuel PSLV rocket. Until it does, the country will flounder in the backwater of the Space Age.

China’s Shenzhou 9 space capsule — which launched Saturday carrying three astronauts, including the country’s first female spaceflier — linked up automatically with the unmanned Tiangong 1 space lab just after 2 p.m. Monday Beijing time (2 a.m. ET), according to CCTV.

The only other countries to pull off an orbital docking with a manned spacecraft are the United States and then-Soviet Russia, which first did so in 1966 and 1969, respectively.

Shenzhou 9 was to dock with Tiangong 1 twice. The plan called for the first hookup to be conducted in automated mode, following the pattern set last November during an all-robotic docking between Tiangong and an unmanned Shenzhou 8 craft. At some point, the two spacecraft will separate, and the three taikonauts, as China’s astronauts are known, will perform the second docking under manual control.

Read more at MSNBC.

China launched the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft with three astronauts aboard atop a Long March 2F rocket on Saturday. Commander Jing Haipeng, Liu Wang and Liu Yang — the first Chinese woman in space — are headed for a two-week mission to the Tiangong-1 space station. This will be the first human crew to dock with China’s first space station, which was launched last year. The crew will dock with Tiangong-1 on Monday. This is China’s first human launch in nearly four years.

Reports indicate that the launch will take place on Saturday afternoon. The crew will spend two days to reach the Tiangong-1 space station and 10 days on board. China will send its first female astronaut into space on this flight.The space station is about half the size of the Soviet Salyut facilities launched during the 1970s.

A taikonaut emerges from China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft after a successful orbital flight

Xinhua has an update on China’s human spaceflight program:

China will launch its Shenzhou-9 manned spacecraft sometime in mid-June to perform the country’s first manned space docking mission with the orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab module, a spokesperson said here Saturday.

The spacecraft and its carrier rocket, the Long March-2F, were moved to the launch platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Saturday, a spokesperson with the country’s manned space program said….

Niu Hongguang, deputy commander-in-chief of the country’s manned space program, said in March that the three-person crew on Shenzhou-9 might include female astronauts, but the final selection would be decided “on the very last condition.”

The target module Tiangong-1, which blasted off on Sept. 29, 2011, went into long-term operation in space awaiting the docking attempts of the Shenzhou-9 and Shenzhou-10 after completing China’s first space docking mission with the unmanned Shenzhou-8 spacecraft in early November

This will be China’s first human spaceflight in near four years. A three-man crew launched into space aboard Shenzhou 7 on Sept. 28, 2008. Two of the astronauts conducted a spacewalk.

The relevant section is reproduced below.

Space and Counterspace Capabilities. In the space domain, China is expanding its space-based surveillance, reconnaissance, navigation, meteorological, and communications satellite constellations.

China continues to build the Bei-Dou (Compass) navigation satellite constellation with the goal of establishing a regional network by the end of 2012 and a global network by 2020.

China launched the Tiangong space station module in September 2011 and a second communications relay satellite (the Tianlian 1B), which will enable near real-time transfer of data to ground stations from manned space capsules or orbiting satellites.

China continues to develop the Long March V rocket, which will more than double the size of the low Earth and geosynchronous orbit payloads that China will be capable of placing into orbit.

In parallel, the PRC is developing a multidimensional program to limit or deny the use of space-based assets by adversaries during times of crisis or conflict. In addition to the direct-ascent anti-satellite weapon tested in 2007, these counterspace capabilities also include jamming, laser, microwave, and cyber weapons. Over the past two years, China has also conducted increasingly complex close proximity operations between satellites while offering little in the way of transparency or explanation.

China’s space and counterspace programs are facing some challenges in systems reliability. Communications satellites using China’s standard satellite launch platform, the DFH-4, have experienced failures leading to reduced lifespan or loss of the satellite. The recent surge in the number of China’s space launches also may be taking its toll. In August 2011, in the third satellite launch in seven days for China, a Long March 2C rocket (carrying an experimental Shijian 11 satellite), malfunctioned after liftoff.

Gary will discuss his G-Lab plan for a variable gravity research station in low Earth orbit.

To listen live to The Space Show podcast, go to http://www.thespaceshow.com. The show will be archived later in the week if you can’t listen in live.

—–

SSI Vice President for Research John Lewis was on the show last night talking about asteroid mining and the Chinese space program. The show is now archived for listening.

A taikonaut emerges from China's Shenzhou 7 spacecraft after a successful orbital flight

Check out this update on cooperation with China on human spaceflight:

European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain met with his Chinese counterpart March 22-23 to discuss future cooperation in manned spaceflight, including the potential for a Chinese Shenzhou spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).

The two sides met at Dordain’s request on the sidelines of the European Space Agency’s third Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) launch to the ISS March 23 to further establish a dialogue and lay the groundwork for potential Sino-European cooperation in manned spaceflight.

“For the moment we cannot dock and rendezvous with the ISS, because our system is not the same as the Americans or the Russians,” said Wang Zhaoyao, the newly named director general of the China Manned Space Engineering Office (Cmseo), adding that experts from both agencies are expected to establish a working group that will meet in Paris next month to discuss Shenzhou’s compatibility with a planned ISS common docking mechanism. “We would like to have cooperation.”

Dordain says the two sides are discussing a range of collaborative opportunities in the area of manned spaceflight, including astronaut training, life-support systems and utilization of each other’s space station facilities.

Read the full story.

China's Long March family of rockets. Credit: Jirka Dlouhy

By Douglas Messier
Parabolic Arc Managing Editor

Liang Xiaohong, deputy head of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, recently spoke publicly about his nation’s rocket plans, which include two new versions of the Long March for orbital flights, a heavy-lift vehicle for sending taikonauts to the moon, and reusable booster technology.

First, the Long March 5:

China has made key technological progress in developing Long March 5 large-thrust carrier rocket and it is hopeful that the new generation rocket will make its maiden flight in 2014, a rocket scientist said Saturday.

Engineers and scientists have succeeded in developing the first hydrogen box that will be used to store fuel for the Long March-5 rocket, said Liang, who is a member of the CPPCC National Committee, China’s top political advisory body.

According to Liang, the Long March-5 rocket will more than triple Chinese rockets’ carrying capacity in the outer space, with a maximum low Earth-orbit payload capacity of 25 tonnes and geosynchronous orbit payload capacity of 14 tonnes.

Using non-toxic and pollution-free propellant, the 60-meter-long rocket will be equipped with four propellers, with each measuring 3.35 meters in diameter, Liang said.

Liang also explained plans for the Long March 7, which will use cleaner fuel:

The Long March 7 carrier rocket, one of China’s latest generation of rockets, is expected to make its first voyage within the next five years, an official with the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology said Saturday.

Fuelled by an environmentally-friendly propellant, the Long March 7 is expected to have a launch capacity of 13.5 tonnes in low-Earth orbit and 5.5 tonnes in Sun-synchronous orbit, said Liang Xiaohong, deputy head of the academy, which is affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

“The Long March 7 will be able to carry cargo spacecraft for China’s future space station program and fulfill the long-term needs of the country’s manned space program,” said Liang, who is currently attending the annual session of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body.

Liang said he expects the new generation of carrier rockets to phase out some of China’s in-service rockets and handle the bulk of China’s space missions by 2021.

China is also eying a super booster for trips beyond Earth orbit and reusable booster technology:

Scientists have finished preliminary research into a heavy-thrust carrier rocket that could help China send men to the moon and fly to deep space in the future.

“If approved (by the government), the heavy-thrust carrier rocket will be able to meet the demands of any proposed Chinese mission in space,” said Liang, who is also a member of the National Committee of the 11th Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference.

After about two years of research and argument, scientists agreed that China’s future heavy-lift carrier rocket should have a lift-off thrust of 3,000 metric tons and be able to send a payload of 100 metric tons into the low-Earth orbit. Liang declined to give more details.

“China lagged more than 10 years behind the United States, Russia and Europe in the development of large-thrust launchers, and should not repeat the mistake in heavy-thrust launchers,” he said. “China should not miss out on these developments again, given its current economic and scientific strength.”

China is also researching how to use the boosters and the first two stages of a launch vehicle repeatedly, which could help reduce the launch cost, he said.

Want to read more?

• Long March 5 story
• Long March 7 story
• Long March heavy story