TIANJIN, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- China is building a new
range of carrier rockets designed to send heavyweight satellites into space,
boosting the current carrying capacity by nearly three times, a space expert has
said.
The Long March 5 rockets will be able to carry
payloads of up to 25 tons for low earth orbit satellites, up from the current
limit of 9.2 tons, said Wu Yansheng, president of the China Academy of Launch
Vehicle Technology (CALT), which is developing the new series of launch
vehicles.
"Meanwhile, the carrying capacity can reach 14 tons
from the current 2.6 to 5.4 tons while sending satellites into geosynchronous
orbit, like Chang'e-1," Wu said.
China's first lunar probe, Chang'e-1, named after a
legendary Chinese goddess who flew to the moon, blasted off on a Long March 3A
carrier rocket at 6:05 p.m. on Oct. 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center
in southwestern Sichuan Province.
In addition to bigger capacity, the Long March 5
rockets will be designed using pollution-free technologies, Wu said.
"The new generation of carrier rockets are expected
to blast off within six to seven years," said Ma Xingrui, general manager of the
China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
The Long March 5 rockets will lift off from a new
space launch center in Wenchang, in the southern island province of Hainan. The
new center, the fourth in China, is expected to be completed in 2012 and
formally put into use in 2013.
The new series of rockets will be made in a new base
located at the Binhai New Area in the northern port city of Tianjin, and
construction on the base has kicked off on Tuesday.
The first phase of the carrier rocket base, to cover
3,000 mu (200 hectares) in area, will be completed at the end of 2009. A total
of 4.5 billion yuan (600 million U.S. dollars) will be invested in the project,
said Yu Liegui, deputy head of the Commission of Science Technology and Industry
for National Defense.
"After completion, the base will meet the demands of
China's space technology development and peaceful use of space for 30 to 50
years, and help achieve a rapid development for China's launch vehicle
technology and a sustainable development for the country's aerospace," Yu said.
China has launched 103 Long March carrier rockets
since April 24, 1970, when the Long March-1 successfully sent Dongfanghong-1
satellite into the space.
