New Rocket, New Launch Pad, New Launch Site [Long March 12 Y1]
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology has performed the Long March 12's debut mission!
At 22:25 pm China Standard Time, or 14:25 pm Universal Coordinated Time, on November 30th, the Long March 12 made its debut flight from Commercial Launch Pad 2 at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site! This launch is the first of many from the new launch site on the east coast of Hainan province, next door to the Wenchang Space Launch Site.
Two satellites were onboard the Long March 12 for its maiden launch, with them being Satellite Internet Technology Test Satellite (将卫星互联网技术试验卫星) and Technology Test Satellite 03 (技术试验卫星03). Few details were shared about the two spacecraft but it is known that Technology Test Satellite 03 was developed by the Fifth Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology states that the debut of the Long March 12 achieved “large diameter, large thrust, and high area-to-thrust ratio”, which they believe is necessary for supporting high-performance launch missions while competing for international customers. “Large diameter” is likely in reference to the vehicle’s 3.8-meter diameter for the first and second stages along with the 5.2-meter diameter fairing, a 4.2-meter diameter fairing is also available. The “large thrust, and high area-to-thrust ratio” is in reference to the four YF-100K engines generating a combined thrust of 510 tons.
The academy also highlighted three points in which the Long March 12 improves over older Long March vehicles:
More efficient: lightweight and powerful carrying capacity. The Long March 12 launch vehicle adopts a newly developed 4-meter-class diameter body, which improves the propellant loading by 30% and the thrust performance of the rocket module by 108% compared with the traditional 3.35-meter-diameter launch vehicle. At the same time, the Long March 12 launch vehicle is the first in China to use cold helium direct pressurization technology that is compatible with liquid oxygen. It takes advantage of the high density of helium at low temperatures to significantly reduce the number of pressurized gas bottles and improve the efficiency of pressurized gas bottles. The gas storage efficiency further reduces the quality of the pressurized transportation system, optimizes the rocket assembly layout, and shortens the launch vehicle assembly cycle. In addition, the Long March 12 launch vehicle also innovates and applies a large number of new materials and processes during the development process, which effectively improves the structural bearing capacity while realizing its own weight reduction, laying a technical foundation for realizing a stronger carrying capacity and meeting a wider range of mission requirements.
Smarter: Autonomous and reliable flight capabilities. In order to further improve the reliability of rocket launch, the Long March 12 adopted a newly developed containment and release system and realized the first domestic engineering application in China. Specifically, before the rocket is ignited and takes off, the containment and release system first tethers it to the launch pad. After the rocket diagnoses that the ignition is working normally, the containment and release system is reliably released, and the rocket takes off smoothly. After launch, the intelligent health diagnosis system will conduct a real-time "physical examination" of the rocket, and conduct real-time on-board monitoring and diagnosis of the collected rocket status information. Once a fault is detected, fault isolation can be carried out, while the implementation of the mission re-planning for the rocket online to generate a new flight trajectory, to ensure that the satellite accurately enters the intended orbit.
Broader: launch capability in multiple flight modes. The 4-meter diameter body of the rocket further enhances the ability of the launch vehicle to perform multiple tasks and can be adapted to major domestic launch sites. At the same time, the rocket can adapt to two test and launch modes: "one horizontal, two vertical" and "three horizontal". By adopting the three-level launch mode of "horizontal transportation, vertical assembly, vertical test" or "horizontal assembly, horizontal test, horizontal transfer", the test and launch process is simple and the launch area takes up less time, which can greatly shorten the launch cycle.
If there are any problems with these translations please reach out and correct me.
In the near future, it is expected that the Long March 12 will increase its launch cadence to replace the older hypergolic Long March launch vehicles, while possibly taking over some of the old in-land launchpads used by the hypergolic vehicles. In addition, the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology concluded its post-launch team-focused blog post saying:
"Market expectations are good, and we have full confidence in building a good commercial aerospace ecosystem with all parties in the new model of developing commercial rockets."
Today’s debut launch was also providing the first flight of the YF-100K engines, which will be used for the Long March 10 Moon rocket. The YF-100K engine boasts a ~5-tons of thrust improvement along with a lower mass (1,820 kilograms) and wider thrust range (50%-105%).
This was the 1st launch of the Long March 12, the 224th Long March vehicle launch from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and the 548th launch of the Long March launch vehicle series. Along with these, this was the 59th launch from China in 2024.
Liftoff video via 央视新闻, Wenchang Commercial buildup video via 卡尔达瓦里希, render via 上海航天
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What is the Long March 12?
This section is for those less familiar with China's Long March series of launch vehicles.
The Long March 12 is a new launch vehicle from the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. Both stages of the launch vehicle burn rocket-grade kerosene and liquid oxygen.
The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:
12,000 kilograms to a low Earth orbit
6,000 kilograms to a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit
Four YF-100K engines power the first stage, generating a combined thrust of 510 tons while burning liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene. Two YF-115 engines power the second stage, generating 36 tons of thrust while also burning liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene.
On the launchpad, the rocket stands at 62.6 meters in height, while having a first and second stage diameter of 3.8 meters. Fully fuelled the Long March 12 is believed to weigh 433,000 kilograms. The fairing of the Long March 12 is also believed to have options for either a 3.8, 4.2, or 5.2-meter diameter, depending on the needs of the mission.
Currently, the Long March 12 has only flown from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site, on the east coast of Hainan province.