MOSCOW - China has officially debuted its latest generation of commercial launch vehicles - the Long rockets, which are "basically capable of meeting the requirements of the overwhelming majority of launch missions for domestic and foreign commercial satellites", said the developer on Sunday.
The new Long rocket series comprises a cluster of solid-fueled rockets codenamed the Smart Dragon (SD) link family, and a Tenglong liquid-propellant rocket, Sputnik has reported.
The SD rocket family is made up of the SD-1, -2, -3 launch vehicles. The SD rockets are capable of carrying payloads weighing between 200 kilograms and 1.5 tons to the Sun-synchronous orbit 500 kilometers above the ground, the developer, China Rocket in Beijing, told the Global Times via a statement on Sunday. [image: Chinese rocket] The first model of the SD family, the SD-1, completed its maiden flight on August 17, whose carrying capability was 200 kilograms, and is expected to carry out 20 launch missions annually, said the statement.
The SD-2 and SD-3, according to the developer, are scheduled to make their first flights in 2020 and 2021 respectively. The SD-2 has a carrying capability of more than 500 kilograms and the SD-3 can send a payload of more than 1.5 tons into space.
Also, the Tenglong liquid rocket, which was unveiled to the public for the first time on Saturday and remains at a sophisticated assessment stage, is expected to be recyclable and to provide launch services for medium- to large-sized satellites and satellite constellations.