Beijing. China’s new ‘Long March-8 rocket’ on Sunday placed 22 satellites in space. This is China’s domestic record for sending such a large number of satellites into space with a single rocket.
The rocket took off from the Wenchang spacecraft launch site in southern Hainan province at 11.06 a.m. Beijing time, according to state-run Xinhua Agency news. After this he placed the satellites in their predetermined orbits.
These satellites will be mainly used for commercial ‘remote sensing’ services, marine environment monitoring, forest fire control and disaster management. With this mission, the 409th flight of ‘Long March Rocket’ has taken place.
The ‘Long March-8’ series rocket used on Sunday is a modified version of the previous rocket and is 48 meters high and weighs 198 tonnes. It uses non-polluting and harmless propellant and has the capability to put a satellite weighing three tonnes in orbit.
Compared to the original version, the modified version does not have a ‘side booster’ but it can place satellites in different orbits according to the need. ‘Long March-8’ is China’s new generation launch rocket. It has been designed and manufactured by China’s Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. It meets 80 percent of China’s satellite mission requirement.
The rocket’s chief commander, Xiao Yun, said the ‘Long March-8’ series rockets were being built and tested out of the Wengchang launch site. He said that once the test is completed, the ‘Long March-8’ can be launched at an interval of seven days and will have the capability to carry out 50 missions every year.