China Great Wall Industry is developing a variant of the Long March launcher to place satellites in low-earth orbit (LEO). The LM-2E/A will be an enhanced version of the current LM-2E, with improved payload capability and reliability.
According to China Great Wall vice-president Liu Zhixiong, the LM-2E/A will be able to launch a 12.9t payload, compared with theLM-2E's 9.2t limit. It will also have an enlarged 5.2m fairing, and will use a new encapsulation method, integrating the spacecraft, adaptor and fairing in the spacecraft processing building rather than at the launch pad.
Liu says that the reliability of the LM-2E/A is expected to exceed 95%. The latest addition to the Long March family is expected to be launched for the first time towards the end of next year, in time for its first commercial operation in 2001.
He adds that the company is also planning the longer-term development of a boosted, single-stage, reusable LEO launch vehicle and a boosted two-stage geostationary-transfer-orbit (GTO) launcher. The LEO vehicle is expected to have a 24t payload capacity, while the GTO vehicle will carry up to 13t. The new launchers are to be operational in five to 10 years, say the Chinese.
Meanwhile, a Long March 4B launched two satellites from Taiyuan in northern China, on 10 May. It was the first launch of the uprated LM 4A booster, with an improved third stage.
The new 44.1m-tall LM4B launched the Fengyun 1C sun-synchronous meteorological satellite and the Shijian 5 demonstrator into 869 x 48km orbits. The earlier LM 4A has flown two missions, carrying the Fengyun 1A and 1B.
China Great Wall is considering establishing a new launch site in the southern part of Guangdong province, at a much lower latitude than that of current launch sites. This will allow cheaper, more efficient, launches, taking advantage of the additional momentum gained from the earth's rotation.
No decision has been made on the exact site location.
Source: Flight International