Abstract
China developed its own Long March series of launch vehicles; it launched the very first China-built satellite, Dong Fang Hong 1 (DFH-1), on April 24, 1970, and so becoming the fifth country in the world to launch its own satellite using its own launch vehicle. When China put the Long March launch vehicles onto the international market on October 25, 1985, there had been 12 Long March launches and the launch vehicles made available were Long March 3 and Long March 2C. It was the Long March 3 launcher that was first used to launch the U.S.-built commercial communications satellite, AsiaSat-1. In response to market demand and after an analysis of the whole market situation, China started to develop new launch vehicles. The Long March 2E launch vehicle was developed when the major satellite manufacturers were proceeding with the new generation of larger telecommunications satellites, and there were upper stages remaining to be launched after the phase-out of the Space Shuttle for commercial launches in August 1986. As the test flight of the Long March 2E succeeded and the development of a larger launch vehicle for GTO missions proceeded as expected, the most powerful launcher in the Long March family, Long March 3B, was proposed to the international market. At the time of its development, the standard GTO capability of Long March 3B was 4,800 kg. After its first successful flight, its GTO performance was raised to 5,000 kg and now 5,100 kg is offered to customers. The Long March 3B outperformed the available U.S. launch vehicles for commercial launchers — Atlas and Delta. Unfortunately, the commercial launch services business has now been circumvented with quotas, sanctions, issues related to export licenses for commercial communications satellites, changes of jurisdiction over commercial communications satellites, etc.. For the future of the Long March launch vehicles, it is clear — both from the market, and technical aspects — how to respond to the demand.
Keywords
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Gao, R. (2000). Long March Launch Vehicles — Responsive to both Domestic and International Market. In: Rycroft, M. (eds) The Space Transportation Market: Evolution or Revolution?. Space Studies, vol 5. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0894-5_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-010-0894-5_8
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-3810-2
Online ISBN: 978-94-010-0894-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive