China’s Long March-5 returns

Carrier rocket Long March-5 Y3 is being vertically transported to the launching area of Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province. GLOBAL TIMES

BEIJING, China (Global Times) — With a long-cherished Chinese space dream, China’s largest carrier rocket Long March-5 made a successful flight Friday evening, inspiring China to explore deeper into space.

After suffering a failure two years ago, the new Long March-5 rocket soared into the sky like a reborn phoenix from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on the coast of southern China’s tropical island province of Hainan at 8:45 p.m. (Beijing time), trailing a huge flame as bright as the sun, lighting up the clouds and sea.

The rocket, coded as Long March-5 Y3, sent the 8-tonne Shijian-20 technological experiment satellite, China’s heaviest and most advanced communications satellite, into its planned orbit.

The success signifies that the carrying capacity of China’s launch vehicles has reached the forefront of the world.

Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration, said the success of the flight lays the foundation for a series of future space projects for China including exploring Mars, returning moon samples and constructing its own space station.

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

The research team discovered that the failure was caused by a problem in the engine of the first core stage of the rocket. “We have made improvements to the design, materials and technologies of the engine,” said Li Dong, chief designer of the Long March-5 rocket from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

Qu Yiguang, deputy general director of the Long March-5 Y3 research team, said, “Under great pressure, the research team has put all the wisdom and efforts into the rocket over the past two years. We are very proud that we can participate in the development of the Long March-5, which represents the highest level of China’s rocket technology.”

After over two years of silence in Wenchang, Chinese welcomed the return of the “king” with excitement.

The Long March-5 is a large, two-stage rocket, capable of carrying a payload of 25 tonnes into low Earth orbit, 14 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit or 8 tonnes to Earth-Moon transfer orbit, over twice the capacity of the current main Long March series rockets.

The rocket uses environmentally friendly fuel, including kerosene, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, rather than highly toxic propellants.