2024 is another year of progress for China, People’s Republic of China China’s space industry, with about 100 orbital launches planned for the whole year. At the same time, many rocket models will have their first flights this year, and the national team’s “Long March” series of rockets will also have their first flights, including the “Long March 6C” (already launched), “Long March 12” and “Long March 8A”. The “Long March 12” is the most special one among them, and it will be the first carrier rocket with a diameter of 3.8 meters among the “Long March” rockets.
China’s most powerful single-core rocket for low-orbit transport…
The Long March 12 (LM-12/CZ-12) is a new generation of carrier rocket developed by the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. It is a medium-sized cryogenic liquid carrier rocket with a two-stage tandem configuration. The first and second stages are all powered by liquid oxygen-kerosene engines. The rocket was originally the Eighth Academy’s bid for a new generation of manned carrier rockets, and was later renamed XLV20. The original 5CBC configuration (5 cores in parallel for the takeoff stage) was changed to a single core stage configuration.
The first stage of the Long March 12 is equipped with four YF-100K liquid oxygen/kerosene engines, using an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle, using pump-back swing, supporting bidirectional swing of ±8 degrees, and a thrust adjustment range of 65%~105%. The sea level thrust of a single engine is about 128 tons (1250 kN), and the sea level specific impulse is 301.84 seconds. The second stage is equipped with two YF-115 liquid oxygen/kerosene engines, using an oxygen-rich staged combustion cycle, supporting bidirectional swing of ±4 degrees, a thrust adjustment range of 80%~100%, a vacuum thrust of about 18 tons (180 kN), and a vacuum specific impulse of about 342 seconds.
@曹梦-Aerospace
The Long March 12 rocket is 59 meters high, with a first and second stage diameter of 3.8 meters. It can be equipped with optional fairings with diameters of 4.2 meters and 5.2 meters. It has a takeoff mass of 433 tons and a maximum takeoff thrust of about 510 tons (5,000 kilonewtons). The rocket has a carrying capacity of no less than 10 tons in a low-Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 300 kilometers and a carrying capacity of no less than 6 tons in a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of 700 kilometers.
The Long March XII rocket is the first 3.8-meter-diameter model of the Long March rocket. It will also become China’s single-core-stage carrier rocket with the largest takeoff mass and the strongest low-orbit carrying capacity in service.
The first flight of the YF-100K engine!
On April 28, 2024, the YF-100K liquid oxygen-kerosene engine developed by the Sixth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation completed a four-engine parallel ignition test. The total thrust of the engine exceeded 500 tons. This was the first large-thrust liquid oxygen-kerosene engine four-engine parallel ignition test, and the four-engine parallel scheme was fully verified.
The YF-100K was born with the proposal of China’s manned lunar landing plan and the need to demonstrate the new generation of manned carrier rockets. It is based on the improvement and optimization of the YF-100. This engine is the main power of China’s new generation of manned carrier rocket “Long March 10”. It adopts pump back swing. Compared with the YF-100 in use, it has the advantages of small mass eccentricity, small swing envelope, and easy layout of swing components.
The maiden flight of the Long March 12 rocket is also the maiden flight of the YF-100K engine, which will test its performance in actual launches and accumulate flight samples for the main power of the Long March 10 takeoff stage. At the same time, the YF-100K will pave the way for the improvement and upgrading of the new generation of carrier rockets currently in service, such as the Long March 5, whose four boosters are equipped with a total of 8 YF-100 engines. By replacing them with the YF-100K engines with better performance, the rocket will further release its already powerful carrying capacity.
China’s Hainan commercial space launch site launches first rocket
It is expected that in August 2024, the Long March 12 (Yao-1) carrier rocket will carry out its maiden flight at the No. 2 station of the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center in China, and China’s new generation of carrier rockets will welcome a new member. At the same time, this is also the first rocket launch of the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Center, which means that China’s first commercial space launch center has officially been put into use.
In addition to launching from Hainan Commercial Aircraft Corporation, the Long March 12 can also be transported by rail to a land launch site to carry out launch missions, which will help the rocket quickly form a batch launch capability, support launches into sun-synchronous orbits and low-Earth orbits, and be used for low-orbit satellite constellation launch missions such as StarNet.
Images and visuals are from their Respectives CMS China Manned SpaceCNSA-China National Space Administration
