China launches first Long March 8
Posted: Sat, Jan 2, 2021, 12:20 PM ET (1720 GMT)
China successfully launched its first Long March 8 rocket Dec. 21. The medium-lift rocket launched from the Wenchang spaceport on the island of Hainan at 11:37 pm EST (0437 GMT Dec. 22). It placed into sun-synchronous orbit the XJY-7 classified remote sensing technology demonstrator satellite and four smaller satellites, including the first commercial synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite for Chinese company Spacety. The Long March 8 is designed to fill a gap in launch capabilities for medium-class spacecraft and is part of a broader family of new launch vehicles intended to ultimately replace the Long March 2, 3 and 4 vehicles. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which developed the Long March 8, eventually wants to recover and reuse the first stage.
China successfully launched its first Long March 8 rocket Dec. 21. The medium-lift rocket launched from the Wenchang spaceport on the island of Hainan at 11:37 pm EST (0437 GMT Dec. 22). It placed into sun-synchronous orbit the XJY-7 classified remote sensing technology demonstrator satellite and four smaller satellites, including the first commercial synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite for Chinese company Spacety. The Long March 8 is designed to fill a gap in launch capabilities for medium-class spacecraft and is part of a broader family of new launch vehicles intended to ultimately replace the Long March 2, 3 and 4 vehicles. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, which developed the Long March 8, eventually wants to recover and reuse the first stage.
Related Links:
| <<previous article | next article>> |
|
news in brief
|
|
|
|
news links
|
|
Sunday, February 1
INNOSPACE Initiates Joint Investigation with Brazil’s CENIPA Regarding HANBIT-Nano Mission
INNOspace — 12:03 pm ET (1703 GMT) NASA’s Mission Support Future Architecture Program
NASA — 11:39 am ET (1639 GMT) The Milky Way is embedded in a ‘large-scale sheet’ and this explains the motions of nearby galaxies
Netherlands Research School for Astronomy — 11:31 am ET (1631 GMT) Streaks on Mercury show: Mercury is not a "dead planet"
Univ. of Bern — 11:31 am ET (1631 GMT) NanoXplore and STMicroelectronics deliver European FPGA for space missions
STMicroelectronics — 11:27 am ET (1627 GMT) |
