Dev´t of Long March Five carrier rocket goes smoothly

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Source: CCTV.com | 07-02-2008 14:02

Work is progressing on China's new generation carrier rocket, the Long March Five. Researchers have achieved breakthroughs in a number of areas.

Work is progressing on China's new generation carrier rocket, the Long March Five. Researchers have achieved breakthroughs in a number of areas.

Here is the production base for the Long March Five carrier rocket. The first phase of construction is expected to be completed by the end of next year.

Li Hong, Head of Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology said "When the production base is ready, there's no problem to meet our capacity of manufacturing 20 to 30 such carrier rockets every year."

The Long March Five is a highly efficient rocket that doesn't produce toxins and pollution.

Its payload capacity in near-Earth orbit is expected to increase from the current ten tons to 25, and from 5.5 tons to 14 tons for geo-synchronous orbits.

Li Dong, Chief Designer of Long March V Carrier Rocket said "14 means we can launch more than one satellite with a single rocket. 25 means we can carry 25 tons of payload to the Earth's low orbit, around which the Shenzhou spacecraft travels, so that we can make further developments, like setting up space station and lab."

Design work and development of the technology for the Long March Five will soon be finished. Production of components is scheduled to start by the end of this year. Scientists will do a lot of ground tests at that stage. Afterwards, the Long March Five will go in to production. The new rocket is expected to make its debut in 2014.

Editor:Xiong Qu