China's new generation of medium-size high-orbit liquid carrier rocket, the Long March 7A carrier rocket, blasted off at 1:51 am on March 12 from Wenchang, Hainan Province, putting the experimental satellite No.9 into A preset orbit, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
The successful launch of the Long March 7A marked the addition of A new member of China's new-generation medium carrier rocket family, and also kicked off the annual space launch mission from the Wenchang Space Launch Center, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation said.
The launch marks the 362nd flight of the Long March family of carrier rockets.
The Jian-9 satellite was developed by the Fifth Institute of Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation and is mainly used for in-orbit verification tests of new technologies such as space environment monitoring.
The 60.1 meter long Long March 7A rocket has A takeoff weight of about 573 tons and A geosynchronous transfer orbit capacity of no less than 7 tons.
With the continuous development of domestic space technology, high-orbit satellites could be launched with a weight of around 6 to 7 tons in the future, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
At present, China's main carrier rocket in service has a geosynchronous transfer orbit capacity of 5.5 tons.The Long March 7A rocket boosted the capacity to seven tons, effectively filling the gap in China's high orbit carrying capacity.