HELSINKI — China launched its first Long March 12 rocket Saturday, marking an advance in its crewed moon plans and the debut of a new spaceport that will boost the country’s access to space.
The two-stage, 62-meter-tall Long March 12 lifted off at 9:25 a.m. Eastern (1425 UTC) Nov. 30 from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site. The rocket climbed into the night sky above the coastal spaceport, with amateur live streams from the area capturing the event.
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), the rocket’s maker, declared launch success within an hour of liftoff. SAST announced the previously undisclosed payloads on the flight to be the experimental “Satellite Internet Technology Test Satellite” and “Technology Test Satellite-3”. No details of the spacecraft were provided.
The kerosene-fueled Long March 12 is China’s first 3.8-meter-diameter launch vehicle. It can carry a payload of 12,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit (LEO), and 6,000 kg to sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), according to SAST. The new rocket could play a role in the construction of China’s planned LEO megaconstellations.
The launch is a step forward for SAST in bringing new rockets online, for its parent company CASC in the development of new rocket engines for its lunar plans and, through the debut launch from the new commercial Wenchang spaceport, the easing of a bottleneck in access to launch pads in China. It is distinct from Wenchang’s existing national spaceport and is made to enable higher launch frequencies for multiple CASC and commercial rockets.
China had aimed to launch around 70 Long March rockets in 2024 and approximately another 30 launches from commercial providers. A lack of reusable launchers and options for launch pads likely contributed to the slower than expected pace, with the launch being China’s 59th orbital launch attempt with just a month of 2024 remaining.
The launch was the first flight use of the YF-100K engine, with the Long March 12 using four YF-100K engines on its first stage. The YF-100K is an uprated version of the YF-100 kerosene-liquid oxygen engines that power China’s new-generation liquid propellant rockets. These newer rockets include the Long March 5, 6, 7 and 8.
The YF-100K notably will power the first stages of the Long March 10 rocket. That launcher is intended to send China’s astronauts to the moon before the end of the decade. A reusable version of the engine, the YF-100N, is also being developed.
It is unclear how the Long March 12 will be used, with it being in the same class as the existing Long March 7 and several launchers from China’s commercial sector. It is, however, a much more economical option than the Long March 7, which was designed to be rated for human spaceflight and is used to send cargo spacecraft to the Tiangong space station.
The Long March 12 has a much lower mass at takeoff (430,000 kg and 597,000 kg for Long March 7) and does not feature side boosters. It also has a much larger payload fairing volume—with either 4.2m or 5.2m-diameter fairings—thus making it potentially very useful for China’s Guowang and Qianfan/Thousand Sails megaconstellations. The latter project alone envisions 14,000 satellites in LEO, which would require launching an average of just over seven satellites per day, every day, until the end of the decade.
SAST has also revealed plans to develop reusable methane-liquid oxygen launchers. It has conducted a successful vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) test using a 3.8-meter-diameter methalox test article.
The launch was China’s 59th orbital launch attempt of 2024, following the first launch of the enhanced commercial Zhuque-2 methane-liquid oxygen rocket Nov. 26. Another Zhuque-2E rocket could fly as soon as December, while a Long March 5B with an unknown payload could also fly before the end of the year. Launches from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center are also expected in early December.