This was CZ-8A (Y5)?
In this mission, the Long March 8A rocket innovated its fuel system, which can significantly reduce fuel procurement expenditures in high-density launch scenarios, providing strong support for overall rocket cost control; it also optimized the rocket body structure design and implemented standardized modifications to the basic-stage rocket body modules, enabling rocket body modules produced in different batches to be fully interchangeable, laying a solid foundation for achieving high-density, routine launches.
According to official sources, this mission marks the first time the Long March 8 series rockets have switched their primary fuel from traditional petroleum-based aerospace kerosene to coal-based aerospace kerosene, achieving a "fuel upgrade."Last year, the maiden voyage of the Long March 12 carrier rocket from Launch Pad 2 at the Hainan Commercial Launch Center pioneered the use of coal-based aerospace kerosene. Starting today, both Launch Pads 1 and 2 will uniformly use coal-based aerospace kerosene. During the transition between launch pads, there is no need to purge pipelines with two different fuel types, simplifying the operation process and facilitating efficient use of kerosene storage tanks.Furthermore, the coal-based aerospace kerosene is transported from Xi'an, significantly reducing the transportation distance compared to petroleum-based aerospace kerosene from Xinjiang, resulting in lower transportation costs. The new fuel is environmentally friendly, convenient to store and transport, and lower in cost, while maintaining performance comparable to and as reliable as petroleum-based aerospace kerosene, laying a "green power" foundation for subsequent high-density launches.
Andrew Jones@AJ_FIA Long March 8A lifted off at 0753 UTC today from Wenchang, carrying the 14th group of Guowang LEO megaconstellation satellites into orbit. This was China's 79th orbital launch attempt of 2026 (80th coming on Monday).
