China's largest carrier rocket Long March-5 performs new mission

China's Long March-5 carrier rocket, the largest carrier rocket of the country, lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province.

The rocket, now on its third mission, took flight at around 20:45, carrying the Shijian-20 technological experiment satellite weighing over eight tonnes, the heaviest and most advanced communications satellite of the country.

About 2,220 seconds later, the satellite was sent into its planned orbit with a perigee of 192 kilometers and an apogee of 68,000 kilometers.

"It is the largest geosynchronous orbit satellite platform and also the latest generation. The satellite has a life span of 15 years. This year is its birthday, and it has a lot experiments to do," said Zhou Zhicheng, chief commander of the Shijian-20 satellite under the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

"Our team has worked over 900 days and nights just for the moment today. We do not have time to celebrate because we have to throw ourselves into the next battle without stop," said Wang Jue, chief commander of the Long March-5 carrier rocket from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

China's Long March-5 carrier rocket, five meters in diameter, is capable of carrying a payload of 25 tonnes to low Earth orbit and 14 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit, over twice the capacity of the current main Long March series rockets.

The Long March-5 made its maiden flight on Nov. 3, 2016 from Wenchang. However, the second large rocket, Long March-5 Y2, suffered a failure, as a malfunction happened less than six minutes after its liftoff on July 2, 2017.

Improvements have been made to the carrier rocket in the past two years, and the success of the Long March-5 means that China has the capacity to send larger and heavier spacecrafts into the deep space, providing a foundation for China's missions such as the deep space exploration and the manned space flight.

The Shijian-20 satellite is China's biggest, heaviest and most advanced satellite, and it will be used to test China's new-generation satellite platform, DFH-5. The satellite is loaded with several communication and broadcasting equipment, including the country's most powerful laser communication device, and it will test the high-throughput satellite, which is the next-generation communication technology.

The Wenchang Satellite Launch Center is China's first coastal spacecraft launch site. It has the advantages of low latitude, high launching efficiency, and convenient transportation, capable of meeting the launching missions of next-generation carrier rockets and new types of spacecraft.

"It marks the end of the research on the Long March-5 carrier rocket and the start of its use. It will fulfill key launch missions later, including next year's first Mars mission, the Chang'e-5 lunar probe, and the core module of the space station which will be launched at the end of next year or the beginning of the year after next," said Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration.

(Source: Reuters) 

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