Long March 3B rocket launches successfully! China's space program ends perfectly in 2021

At 0:43 on December 30, 2021, my country successfully launched the Communication Technology Experimental Satellite No. 9 using the Long March 3B carrier rocket (hereinafter referred to as the Long March 3B rocket) at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The satellite successfully entered the predetermined orbit and the launch mission was a complete success.

It is reported that this mission is the final battle of the year for China's space program. This is also the 12th launch of the Long March 3A series rocket this year, 12 battles and 12 victories!

At 00:43 on December 30, my country successfully launched the Communication Technology Experimental Satellite No. 9 into space using the Long March 3B carrier rocket at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The satellite successfully entered the planned orbit and the launch mission was a complete success. Photo by Zheng Zhongli, Xinhua News Agency

According to Zhang Tao, deputy chief designer of the 11th Office of the General Design Department of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the Long March 3B rocket that carried out this mission had four major technical status changes, all of which were reliability growth and productization projects, mainly including: optimizing the first-stage servo mechanism pump spindle structure to improve its fatigue strength and life; optimizing the third-stage servo mechanism damper to improve product working stability; the ground air supply equipment in the technical area adopted an intelligent pressure reducing valve, and the pressure regulation and inflation were more intelligent; the upper cover of the arrow was formed by an integral extrusion molding process for the first time, and this process can be used for the production of rocket shell segments in the future, replacing the current "skin + stringer" riveting process, greatly improving production efficiency.

In 2021, the Long March 3A series of rockets continued to maintain a high-density launch status. Under the dual test of the epidemic and the mission, the model team withstood the pressure, continued to optimize the design, improved the reliability and adaptability of the rocket, optimized the launch site process, and adopted effective quality assurance measures to successfully complete various tasks, demonstrating the strength of the "gold medal rocket".

"60+", "16", "300", "83", "48", behind the numbers is the legend written by the Long March rockets in 2021.

The Long March 3B rocket takes off. Photo by Xiao Guojun

60+

The Long March 3B rocket sent more than 60 tons of payload into orbit

The Long March 3B rocket is the rocket with the largest total launch payload weight in the Long March series of launch vehicles in 2021, and is also the main rocket in the Long March 3A series of rockets. It mainly launches high-orbit communication satellites, commercial communication satellites, Beidou-2's medium and high earth orbit satellites, Beidou-3 satellites and Fengyun-4 meteorological satellites.

Of the 12 launch missions of the Long March 3A series of rockets in 2021, the Long March 3B rocket completed 11, sending more than 60 tons of payload into the geosynchronous transfer orbit 38,000 kilometers from the Earth.

16

The shortest interval between launches of the Long March 3A series rockets is 16 days

From June 3 to December 30, 2021, the Long March 3A series of rockets were launched 10 times, successfully sending 10 satellites into orbit. The shortest interval between rocket launches was only 16 days.

In order to cope with high-intensity and high-density launches, the research and development team has been constantly exploring the research and development model of my country's launch vehicles under the new situation, and proposed innovative models and effective methods such as productization and multi-task parallel factory launch. The research and development and production capacity of liquid launch vehicles has increased from 2 to 3 launches a year to 8 to 10 launches, the launch cycle has been reduced from 60 days to about 20 days, and the launch team has been reduced from 300 people to about 100 people, laying a solid foundation for the successful completion of high-density launch missions and the innovative development of launch vehicle management technology.

300

The development team worked continuously at the launch site for 300 days

In recent years, the Long March 3A development team has made a lot of efforts to cope with high-intensity and high-density launches.

Many developers spend most of the year at the launch base performing tasks. They often jokingly refer to "returning to Beijing for work" as "business trips." They rush between airports and train stations at countless dawns and dusks; they stick to their work posts during countless holidays. For the entire development team, rockets are the family members who "accompany" them the most.

83

Long March 3B rocket completes 83rd launch

The Long March 3A series of rockets is the single series of launch vehicles with the most launches in my country. Among them, the Long March 3B rocket has completed 83 launches, accounting for 65% of the total number of launches of the Long March 3A series of rockets.

As the configuration with the most launches in the Long March 3A series of rockets, the Long March 3B rocket can meet the various usage requirements of satellite users. It can launch "a single satellite with one rocket" or "multiple satellites with one rocket"; it can be used for standard geosynchronous transfer orbit launches, supersynchronous transfer orbit launches and deep space probe launches; it can also achieve lateral maneuverable orbit changes, multiple spins, despins and orientation during flight.

48

Long March series of launch vehicles completed 48 launches

The Long March series of launch vehicles completed 48 launches in 2021, setting a historical high for the total number of annual space launches.

During this year, the Long March series of launch vehicles completed its 400th launch. The Long March 5B, Long March 2F, and Long March 7 launch vehicles completed the manned space station construction mission through five launches, demonstrating the strength of the country's aerospace industry and showing the qualitative changes in aerospace mission execution capabilities and the country's overall scientific and technological strength in the new era.

Source: Science and Technology Daily

◎ Science and Technology Daily reporter Fu Yifei, intern reporter Sun Yu, correspondents Fu Yingli, Wang Hailu, Wang Weitong

Editor: Liu Yiyang

Reviewer: Wang Xiaolong

Final review: Liu Haiying