Beijing: China’s new Long March-8 rocket has set a new record by sending 22 satellites into space on Sunday. For the first time, China has sent such a large number of satellites into space with a single rocket. The rocket was launched from the Wenchang spacecraft launch site in China’s southern Hainan province to send the satellites into pre-determined orbits. These satellites will be mainly used for commercial remote sensing services, marine environment monitoring, forest fire-prevention, and disaster prevention. This mission was the 409th flight of the Long March rocket.
The 48-meter-tall Long March-8 rocket used for Sunday’s launch has a take-off weight of 198 tonnes. It is being told that non-toxic and pollution-free propellants have been used in this rocket. The new model does not have side boosters as compared to its original model, but it can launch multiple satellites in different orbits as per the requirement. Long March-8 is China’s new generation satellite carrier rocket.
It has been designed and developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. This rocket increases China’s launching capability in a sun-synchronous orbit. This rocket meets more than 80 percent of China’s launch requirements for medium- and low-orbit space orbits. The rocket’s chief commander, Xiao Yun, said an assembly and test plant for the Long March-8 was being built outside the Wenchang launch site. Once completed, the launch interval of the Long March-8 rocket is expected to be reduced to seven days. So that 50 launches are possible in a year. On February 10 this year, China announced an ambitious plan for its growing space industry. Which includes more than 50 space launches and six manned space flights to complete the construction of its space station.
