First Chinese space mission of 2022 rockets into orbit

A Chinese Long March 2D rocket lifts off with the Shiyan 13 satellite. Credit: CASC

China launched a Long March 2D rocket Monday with another classified satellite, deploying the spacecraft into a polar orbit on the first of more than 40 Chinese Long March rocket missions planned in 2022.

The Long March 2D rocket took off from the Taiyuan launch base in Shanxi province of northern China at 0435 GMT Sunday (11:35 p.m. EST Sunday), according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. or CASC.

Liftoff occurred at 10:35 a.m. Beijing time Monday.

CASC, China’s largest state-owned space industry contractor, said the Long March 2D rocket delivered the Shiyan 13 satellite into orbit. Chinese officials did not disclose details about the purpose of the mission, other than claiming Shiyan 13 will be used for space environment data collection and technology tests.

China’s series of Shiyan satellites, which began launching in 2004, have been used for technology demonstrations and experiments. Many of the Shiyan missions to date have likely had a military purpose.

The 134-foot-tall (41-meter) Long March 2D rocket that carried Shiyan 13 into orbit lifted off with more than 650,000 pounds of thrust from its hydrazine-fueled first stage engines. Heading south from Taiyuan over Chinese territory, the two-stage launcher climbed through the atmosphere accelerated to a speed of nearly 5 miles (8 kilometers) per second.

The U.S. military, which publishes orbital data online, said it tracked the Shiyan 13 satellite in an orbit between 287 miles and 309 miles (463 by 498 kilometers) at an inclination of 97.4 degrees to the equator.

Chinese officials declared the launch a success, and the U.S. military tracking data confirmed the mission reached orbit.

CASC said in a statement that the launch was the first of more than 40 missions the organization plans to perform this year. CASC builds and oversees the Long March rocket family, China’s most-flown launch vehicle.

More than 15 of the launches will use the Long March 2D rocket configuration, according to CASC. The Long March 2D is designed to carry payloads weighing up to 2,900 pounds (about 1.3 metric tons) into a polar sun-synchronous orbit.

Accomplishing 15 or more Long March 2D launches this year would set an annual record for this type of rocket.

Other major Chinese space missions scheduled for launch in 2022 include six Long March rocket flights to build and outfit China’s space station.

The station’s Tianhe core module launched last April on a heavy-lift Long March 5B rocket. China launched a Long March 7 rocket with a Tianzhou cargo ship in May to dock with the Tianhe module, delivering supplies for first three astronauts who launched to the station in June.

That crew returned to Earth in September, the same month China launched another Tianzhou cargo mission.

Three more astronauts on China’s Shenzhou 13 spacecraft launched and docked with the station’s Tianhe core module in October to begin a six-month stay, the longest China human spaceflight mission to date.

This year, China aims to launch two more large space station modules — each weighing more than 20 tons at launch — on Long March 5B rockets from the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island. The Wentian and Mengtian pressurized modules will adding living space and scientific laboratory capabilities to the Chinese space station.

Two Tianzhou cargo freighters on Long March 7 rockets and two Shenzhou crew ferry ships on Long March 2F rockets are also scheduled to launch to the Chinese space station this year.

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