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#80 by otter on 22 Dec, 2020 04:54
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http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-12/22/c_139610000.htm
China's new carrier rocket Long March-8 makes maiden flight
2020-12-22 13:36:09
WENCHANG, Hainan, Dec. 22 (Xinhua) -- China's new medium-lift carrier rocket Long March-8 made its maiden flight on Tuesday, sending five satellites into planned orbit, according to the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
The rocket blasted off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on the coast of southern China's island province of Hainan at 12:37 p.m. (Beijing Time).
The Long March-8 rocket has a total length of 50.3 meters, with a takeoff mass of 356 tonnes. It can carry a payload of at least 4.5 tonnes to a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 km.
The rocket fills the gap in China's launch capability to the sun-synchronous orbit from 3 tonnes to 4.5 tonnes, and is of great significance for accelerating the upgrading of launch vehicles, according to the CNSA. -
#81 by tangdou8 on 22 Dec, 2020 05:49
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A pretty nice shot
Photo by weibo User @goneless
link：https://weibo.com/6528178851/JzDDYuh11?from=page_1001066528178851_profile&wvr=6&mod=weibotime&type=comment#_rnd1608620104405
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#82 by tehwkd on 22 Dec, 2020 06:01
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#83 by otter on 22 Dec, 2020 06:03
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#84 by Alter Sachse on 22 Dec, 2020 06:17
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07-W8 (?)
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#85 by otter on 22 Dec, 2020 06:26
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#86 by FutureSpaceTourist on 22 Dec, 2020 07:14
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#87 by PM3 on 22 Dec, 2020 11:51
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XJY-7 classified remote sensing technology test (~3t) Hisea-1 C-band SAR satellite (180 kg) Yuanguang material science experiments (20 kg) Zhixing-1A / ET-SMART-RSS remote sensing (6U) Ping’an-1 / Tianqi-8 IoT
https://spacenews.com/china-launches-first-long-march-8-from-wenchang-spaceport/ -
#88 by Galactic Penguin SST on 22 Dec, 2020 12:09
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Additional info on the Long March 8 as reported today organized by yours truly, with sources:
https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1341268580185227269
https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1341268582546567168
https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1341271537714794496
https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1341317521794682880
https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1341317526563655680
https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1341324618313859074
https://twitter.com/Cosmic_Penguin/status/1341324628153679872 -
#89 by Galactic Penguin SST on 22 Dec, 2020 12:53
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US tracking data of objects:
47296/2020-102A: 503 x 515 km x 97.44°
47297/2020-102B: 504 x 513 km x 97.44°
47298/2020-102C: 504 x 512 km x 97.43°
47299/2020-102D: 503 x 510 km x 97.43°
47300/2020-102E: 500 x 509 km x 97.44°
47301/2020-102F: 392 x 522 km x 97.44° (LM-8 2nd stage) -
#90 by Chris Bergin on 22 Dec, 2020 13:26
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Rui's article:
https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/12/long-march-8-debuts-nine-satellites/
Of course, it's five satellites, it seems. -
#91 by input~2 on 22 Dec, 2020 14:53
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07-W8 (?)
Yes, confirmed -
#92 by Stan Black on 22 Dec, 2020 15:03
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Curious to see that the booster engines are not 90º to the two inboard engines.
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#93 by input~2 on 22 Dec, 2020 15:10
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Launch video from channel 7
https://tv.cctv.com/2020/12/22/VIDEvxVMWeb2pbk7YllriawF201222.shtml
Below: XJY-7 separation
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#94 by limen4 on 22 Dec, 2020 20:27
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#95 by Liss on 23 Dec, 2020 11:35
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A little film on Tianqi-8 aka Ping'an-1: https://www.bilibili.com/s/video/BV1oz4y167Vx
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#96 by edkyle99 on 23 Dec, 2020 21:34
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I believe CZ-8 is China's first two-stage rocket with GTO capability, though better to call it a 2.5-stage rocket. A simplification step for what has been a complex launch vehicle stable relative to 2 and 2.5 stage Ariane 5/6, Atlas 5/Vulcan, Falcon 9, H-2A/B, etc.. It will be interesting to see if they scale this idea up to handle CZ-7A payloads somehow.
- Ed Kyle -
#97 by koroljow on 24 Dec, 2020 16:02
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Beautiful photos in https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=50147.msg2171445#msg2171445 and https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=50147.msg2171445#msg2171445. But I see only one engine powering the core stage. Shouldn't there be two YF-100?
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#98 by Skyrocket on 24 Dec, 2020 21:48
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Beautiful photos in https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=50147.msg2171445#msg2171445 and https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=50147.msg2171445#msg2171445. But I see only one engine powering the core stage. Shouldn't there be two YF-100?
Yes, indeed. The engine configuration does not match the drawing. In reality they are rotated 45°, so that both engine are inline behind each others for this perspective. This would match the configuration of CZ-7.
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#99 by koroljow on 25 Dec, 2020 07:40
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Yes, that's the only way to explain. Must be the unique point of view of both cameras. But still hard to imagine how the big nozzles (in reality bigger than in the drawing) fit into the tight space at the busy end of the 1st stage. The center nozzle looks like 80% of the stage diameter. But there are videos of the launch preparations. And yes, it fits...