Space News reports that China’s state-owned and commercial space sector actors “are planning a total of more than 70 launches across 2023 as the country’s space activities continue to expand.” The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) “will again aim for more than 50 launches this year, according to an announcement from an early January meeting.” China launched 64 times in 2022. Combined launch plans “of CASC and commercial actors could see the country top 70 launches this year from three inland spaceports, the coastal Wenchang spaceport and the Haiyang spaceport facilitating sea launches.” Among CASC’s major launches “will be two Shenzhou crewed missions to the Tiangong space station and a supporting pair of Tianzhou cargo spacecraft.”
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Tag: Long March 7A
China Successfully Launches Long March 7A
Space News reports that at 12:51 p.m. EST Thursday, China launched its Long March 7A rocket from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center, “sending a classified, experimental payload into geosynchronous transfer orbit [GTO].” The “first launch of the Long March 7A failed in March 2020. A loss of pressure occurred after first stage separation, which led to engine malfunction.” The Long March 7A “is a 60.1-meter-long, 3.35-meter-diameter kerosene and liquid oxygen launch vehicle with four side boosters, capable of delivering up to 7 metric tons of payload to GTO.” CASC “plans to carry out 3-5 Long March 7A launches a year by 2025.” The launched “payload was the Shiyan-9, or ‘experiment-9,’ technology verification satellite.” The satellite “will be mainly used for in-orbit verification tests of new technologies such as space environmental monitoring, CASC stated, without providing further details.”
Full Story (Space News)