Long March 12 appears for testing ahead of debut next month
Long March 12 appears for testing ahead of debut next month
China's newest Long March launch vehicle was spotted during testing.
On July 16th a Long March 12 'simulator' was spotted being transported around the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site (文昌商业航天发射场), in China's southernmost province of Hainan. The simulator of the launch vehicle is believed to be for final 'fit' testing and rehearsals ahead of a maiden launch in August.
The Long March 12, which will be the first rocket to use the YF-100K engines, is a part of China's transition away from its older Long March launch vehicles, which are fueled by hypergolic propellants. The YF-100K is a more powerful variant of the YF-100 and will also be utilized on the in-development Long March 10 carrier rocket, which will enable crewed lunar missions.
According to Zeng Wenhua, a structural designer at the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, will be used to launch satellite constellations, having said the following to China Daily in late February:
"The Long March 12 incorporates a number of new technologies and will feature high reliability and multiple functions. Its service will extensively improve our country's capability to send spacecraft to a sun-synchronous orbit and deploy multi-satellite networks in low orbits."
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