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China Conduct Its First Sea Launch Successfully, Sent 7 Satellites to Orbits

China launches first rocket into space from platform at sea

2019-06-05 13:02:54 chinadaily.com.cn Editor : Li Yan

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The Long March 11 carrier rocket. (Photo/CCTV)

Video:https://v.qq.com/x/page/l0880czagww.html

China carried out the country's first seaborne space launch on Wednesday, from a platform in its territorial waters in the Yellow Sea, opening a new chapter in its space industry.

A Long March 11 solid-propellant carrier rocket blasted off at 12:06 pm from a mobile launch platform - a modified submersible craft — in the Yellow Sea off the eastern province of Shandong and then sent seven satellites into orbit about 600 kilometers above the Earth.

The mission - the first seaborne space launch in the world in five years -showcased China's mastery of the technologies and capabilities required for such operations and indicates the country has found an alternative to its ground-based launch centers.

China is striving to expand its launch service portfolio and promote its carrier rockets to more countries, especially those wishing to have their own affordable satellite networks.

Designed and built by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the Long March 11 is the only solid-fuel carrier rocket in the Long March family, the pillar of the country's space programs.

With a length of 20.8 meters, a diameter of 2 meters and a liftoff weight of 58 metric tons, it is capable of sending satellites to low-Earth orbit or Sun-synchronous orbit, according to the academy, which is part of State-owned space conglomerate China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

Its first flight, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert in September 2015, ferried four satellites to a Sun-synchronous orbit.

Six Long March 11 rockets had been launched before the seaborne mission, placing 25 satellites into orbit. All the previous missions were launched from the Jiuquan center and were successful.

The mobile launch platform used in Wednesday's launch is owned and run by a Chinese maritime engineering company that asked not to be named due to contractual obligations.

Li Tongyu, Long March 11's project manager at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said more sea-based launches will be conducted to verify its capacity to lift payloads in various orbits.

He said the academy plans to build a coastal port dedicated to supporting seaborne launch missions as well as a dedicated launch platform — instead of the current modified one - that will be capable of launching not only solid-propellant rockets but also liquid-propellant types, which are usually bigger and more powerful.

The world's first launch at sea was made in April 1967 with a Scout B carrier rocket, developed by the United States, from the San Marco platform of the Italian-owned Luigi Broglio Space Center, off the coast of Kenya. The most recent sea launch took place in May 2014, when Sea Launch, a multinational joint venture, sent a Zenit-3SL rocket from the company's mobile launch platform Odyssey in the Pacific Ocean, near Kiritimati, into orbit carrying a communication satellite.

Compared with conventional land-based launches, a sea mission has a lower risk of causing trouble for densely populated areas along the rocket's trajectory. The method also allows launches to be made near the equator, which increases the rocket's carrying capacity, lowers launch costs and extends the life span of some satellites, Li explained.

http://www.ecns.cn/news/sci-tech/2019-06-05/detail-ifziyumy2108710.shtml
 
China completes first offshore rocket launch - Xinhua

Source: Xinhua| 2019-06-05 14:09:35|Editor: Liangyu
QINGDAO, June 5 (Xinhua) -- China successfully launched a rocket from a mobile launch platform in the Yellow Sea off Shandong Province on Wednesday, sending two technology experiment satellites and five commercial satellites into space.

A Long March-11 solid propellant carrier rocket blasted off at 12:06 p.m. from the mobile platform. It is China's first space launch from a sea-based platform and the 306th mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.

The rocket is also named "CZ-11 WEY" under an agreement between the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, China Space Foundation and a Chinese automobile producer.

Launching a carrier rocket from an ocean-based platform has many advantages over a land launch.

The closer to the equator a rocket launch can get, the greater the speed boost it will receive. It reduces the amount of energy required to get into space and means that less fuel is required.

The launch site is flexible and falling rocket remains pose less danger. Using civilian ships to launch rockets at sea would lower launch costs and give it a commercial edge.

The seaborne launch technology will meet the growing launch demand of low inclination satellites and help China provide launch services for countries participating in the Belt and Road Initiative, according to experts.

The two satellites, developed by China Academy of Space Technology, are expected to step up all-weather monitoring of ocean wind fields and improve typhoon monitoring and accuracy of the weather forecast in China.

Among the five commercial satellites, the two satellites, developed by China Electronics Technology Group Corporation, are China's first small satellite system based on Ka-band.

The Long March-11, developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, is the only rocket using solid propellants among China's new generation carrier rockets. It is mainly used to carry small satellites and can take multiple satellites into orbit at the same time.
 
i think china can launch df41 icbm from ship
 

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