Reports said that Long March-6 is 29.3 metres high, making it shorter than the existing and actively used in China’s space programme.
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The Long March-6 was sacked off on Sunday from a launch location in Shanxi.
China yesterday successfully placed 20 micro satellites into space using its latest carrier rocket powered by pollution-free fuels, boosting the Communist giant’s competitiveness in the global satellite launch sector, state media reported.
“Loading, testing and positioning were finished when the Long March-6 rocket was in a horizontal position, before it was lifted to an upright position for launching”, he said. “The new model will also significantly improve our abilitiy to access space”, said Zhang. It has a payload of 1,080 kilograms and is designed to carry out small-load launch missions, such as micro-satellites, in a sun-synchronous orbit up to 700 kilometers above the Earth.
A Chinese official has suggested that the smaller rocket is going to make the country more competitive in the lucrative market for commercial satellite launches.
It would be the first drill carried out in a launch website that includes?each the carrier rocket and a probe, the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence stated.
It’s fueled by liquid propellant made of liquid oxygen and kerosene, which is meant to cut down on pollution.
The satellites, developed by a number of universities and space research institutes across China, include nine amateur radio satellites.
They will conduct technology demonstrations in orbit, including tests of electric propulsion, in-space communications links, new software and cameras, nanotechnology, and amateur radio relay, officials said. It is less reticent about its scientific ambitions and its planned lunar mission. All of these initiatives are expected to help the country achieve its goal to build a space station by 2020.
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China’s “Long March” rocket family is named after an epic journey by Communist forces escaping the then ruling Kuomintang in the 1930s.
