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China blasts off space rocket from sea, 7 satellites sent 600 km into orbit
The launch was carried out from a modified submersible sea craft on the Yellow sea off China’s eastern coast in Shandong province.
China launched a rocket with seven satellites from sea platform on Wednesday, marking the country’s latest achievement in the space industry.
The launch was carried out from a modified submersible sea craft on the Yellow Sea off China’s eastern coast in Shandong province. The rocket was sent some 600 km into the orbit, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) announced in a statement.
This comes months after a Chinese space probe landed on the far side of the moon in January, making it the first spacecraft in the world to touch down on the part of the moon, which is never visible from earth.
On Wednesday, a Long March 11 solid-propellant carrier rocket blasted off at “…12:06 pm from a mobile launch platform — a modified submersible craft — in the Yellow Sea off the eastern province of Shandong and then sent seven satellites into orbit about 600 kilometers above the Earth”.
“The mission — first seaborne space launch in the world in five years — showcased China’s mastery of the technologies and capabilities required for such operations and indicates the country has found an alternative to its ground-based launch centres,” state-controlled English newspaper, China Daily reported.
“This is the first time that China has... (tested a) launch vehicle at sea,” CNSA said in the statement.
State broadcaster CCTV, in a post on the Twitter-like Weibo platform, hailed it as “a new launching mode for China to enter space quickly”.
Built by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, Long March 11 is the only solid-fuel carrier rocket in the Long March family, “…the pillar of the country’s space programs”.
With a length of 20.8 metres, a diameter of 2 metres and a liftoff weight of 58 metric tons, it is capable of sending satellites to low-Earth orbit or Sun-synchronous orbit, according to the academy, which is part of the state-owned space conglomerate China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.
Li Tongyu, Long March 11’s project manager at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology told state media that more sea-based launches will be conducted to verify its capacity to lift payloads in various orbits.
China has unveiled ambitious plans to build a research base on the lunar surface, send a probe to Mars and build a space station in Earth orbit in the years ahead.
China became the third country to have the capability of launching humans into space in 2003.
Most recently, Russian-backed firm Sea Launch used a floating platform to launch dozens of rockets between 1999 and 2014.
“According to Russian company Energia, the majority shareholder in Sea Launch, launching from the sea has a number of advantages, such as the ability to send off rockets from a variety of locations on Earth, as well as reduced costs and risks,” the AFP news agency reported.
