Long March- 8 rocket likely to try out vertical landing in 2021
Development for a fusion version of China’s potentially reusable medium- sized launch vehicle, the Long March- 8, has been initiated, and it is hoped that the new rocket will carry out key technology demonstration tests for vertical take- off and vertical landing ( VTVL) in 2021, said Jiang Jie, a leading expert with the project developer China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology ( CALT) on Thursday.
Research and development work for the Long March- 8 has been initiated to accelerate the rollout of a fusion version of the rocket, Jiang, who is also a member of the 13th National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference ( CPPCC), China’s top political advisory body, told the Global Times on Thursday.
“The rocket will adopt a range of new technologies including electrical integration as well as the integration of ground tracking, monitoring and controlling system,” Jiang said.
The fusion version of the Long March- 8, to be reusable, is expected to demonstrate and test the key VTVL technology within this year, the CALT official noted.
According to CALT, the fusion version of the Long March- 8 will explore key technical possibilities including navigation control for low- speed landing and large stretch- fold ratio landing buffer mechanism, among others.
In the future, the new rocket type will be able to be collected in a cluster, with two boosters and the first core stage being affixed to each other, according to the academy.
Bringing about the re- use of a launch vehicle system would mark a giant leap in the country’s space industry, elevating the country’s capability of space entry and exit and explorations, Jiang said.
Conquering such technology would resolve landing area safety issues and reduce costs for launch missions, and would help the country obtain the technological edge and answer current pressing needs, she said.
Long March- 8 made a successful maiden flight from the tropical island province of Hainan in South China on Tuesday, sending five satellites into designated orbit at the same time in December 2020.
The 50.3- meter- long Long March- 8 has a 3.35- meter- diameter core stage and two 2.25- meter- diameter side boosters. Weighing 356 tons at launch, it has a 480- ton take- off thrust and is capable of sending payloads weighing more than 4.5 tons into the SSO 700 kilometers above the ground, CALT said in a statement it sent to the Global Times.
Third time’s a charm? Not so for SpaceX, whose unmanned rocket exploded on the ground Wednesday after carrying out what had seemed to be a successful flight and landing – fresh on the heels of two fiery crashes.
It was yet another flub involving a prototype of the Starship rocket, which SpaceX hopes one day to send to Mars.
“A beautiful soft landing,” a SpaceX commentator said on a live broadcast of the test flight, although flames were coming out at the bottom and crews were trying to put them out.
The rocket exploded a few minutes later, lurching into the air and crashing back to the ground. No explanation was immediately provided.
“Starship SN10 landed in one piece!” SpaceX founder Elon tweeted jokingly about an hour after the explosion.
“SpaceX team is doing great work! One day, the true measure of success will be that Starship flights are commonplace,” he said in a second tweet.
The latest prototype, named SN10, for serial number 10, took off a little before 2320 GMT from Boca Chica, Texas.
The rocket rose into the sky and progressively shut down its three engines as it reached a height of 10 kilometers and assumed a horizontal position before becoming vertical again and returning to Earth.
As seen on SpaceX video, it appeared to have otherwise landed properly after its flight. Then came the explosion.
Musk has been developing the next- generation Starship rocket for the purpose of going to Mars – though two prototypes ( SN8 and SN9) blew up in spectacular fashion on their test runs in December 2020 and early February.
The tests take place in South Texas near the border with Mexico and Gulf of Mexico.