Long March 8 prepares for Qianfan launch, Tiangong hosts art, & Tianlong-3 aims high
Long March 8 gears up for mega-constellation mission as Shenzhou-19 crew showcase art & Space Pioneer targets 2025 launches.
Despite 2024 still having a few days left, China’s space sector is already planning for an ambitious 2025 with Space Pioneer wanting to fly a half-dozen times while the Long March 8A prepares for a debut mission early in the year. Other recent news has arguments being made for greater private-sector involvement in space along with the fourth art show onboard the Tiangong Space Station.
Tiangong hosts fourth art exhibition
On December 14th the Tiangong Space Station, Beijing, and the Macao Special Administrative Region simultaneously held the fourth Tiangong Art Exhibition. For the parts of the art show on Earth, the event was hosted in the Palace Museum in Beijing and at the Macao Science Center.
Seventy-five pieces of art are featured for the show, selected from over twenty thousand submissions. The theme of the art exhibition was "I love my motherland" as this year coincided with the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the 25th anniversary of Macao’s return to the People’s Republic of China, and the 25th anniversary of the Shenzhou-1 mission.
The Shenzhou-19 crew sent a video of the artwork in microgravity back to Earth along with their greetings, a translation of the crew’s greetings can be found here by Brie, a good friend of the newsletter. Cai Xuzhe (蔡旭哲), Wang Haoze (王浩泽), and Song Lingdong (宋令东) are aboard the space station for six months for the Shenzhou-19 mission, having spent a month and a half in space so far.
Video via China Manned Space Agency
Space Pioneer plans six launches in 2025
At the 2024 Science and Technology Innovation Conference (2024科创大会), in Shanghai on December 13th, Space Pioneer’s General Manager of Rocket Research and Development as well as Chief Launch Vehicle Designer, Liu Xinglong (刘兴隆), spoke about the company’s launch plans for 2025, on behalf of Kang Yonglai (康永来), Space Pioneer’s Founder and Chairman, who could not attend due to urgent commitments.
The video embedded above was uploaded to YouTube for archival and reference on the Western internet, it has not been altered in any major way.
Liu began his presentation by focusing on three areas: trends in commercial aerospace, satellite trends, and China’s opportunities. He highlighted that since 2017, the global launch cadence has exploded, with SpaceX alone launching over sixty percent of the world’s satellites due to the low-cost Falcon 9. Satellites are also actively coming down in cost while increasing onboard capacity and increasing production to enable constellations for navigation, communication, and Earth observation. Although compared to the U.S. commercial space market, Liu believes there is vast room for growth in both launch cadence and satellite manufacturing.
Regarding Tianlong-3’s debut, Liu states that the maiden flight will take place in May 2025 carrying three satellites into a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. Five more flights will then follow between June and November heading to an 800-kilometer 89-degree inclination orbit. Rocket reuse or any recovery tests were not mentioned.
Liu did not mention where Tianlong-3’s maiden flight would occur but Ma Lei (马磊), Deputy General Manager of Space Pioneer’s Hainan subsidiary, recently told People’s Daily that the vehicle would fly from Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site soon, with no specific timeline. Space Pioneer is working on a launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center too. Based on the orbit and stated carrying capacity of eleven tons, it is likely that the following five flights will be carrying batches of Qianfan satellites, for as many as thirty-six per launch.
Looking into the future, Space Pioneer still has a tri-core version and a point-to-point transportation system based on Tianlong-3 in its plans. The tri-core Tianlong-3 is planned to be able to lift up to 68,000 kilograms into low Earth orbit while increasing the vehicle’s height to 88 meters due to a stretched second-stage. A point-to-point version of the rocket will have the second-stage and fairing replaced by a spaceplane that could send thirty passengers anywhere on Earth within forty-five minutes.
Liu Xinglong's presentation and Ma Lei’s statement to People’s Daily both come as Space Pioneer is gradually reemerging into the public eye following an incident during Tianlong-3’s static fire back in June.
Long March 8 prepares for first Wenchang Commerical mission
December 15th saw the Long March 8 Y5 vehicle moved out to Commercial Launch Pad 1 at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site. The Y5 vehicle has been in Wenchang for a few months, including enduring Super-Typhoon Yagi back in September.
This mission will be the first launch from Commercial Launch Pad 1, with official statements saying that the vehicle will fly in the near future, but according to NOTAMs the mission will take place on December 23rd. A payload has not yet been revealed for this mission, however sightings of the fairing indicate that a batch of Qianfan (千帆) satellites will be onboard.
Ahead of this launch, two trucks of liquid hydrogen arrived at the launch site to fill the propellant storage. Each truck is reported to hold 179 cubic meters of liquid hydrogen, for a total of 358 cubic meters, and took three hours to safely unload.
Long March 8A to debut in January 2025
Reports released on December 9th announced that the Long March 8A, an improved version of the Long March 8, will make its debut flight in January 2025. This announcement also came with hardware making its way toward the launch site at Wenchang.
The Long March 8A is largely based on the existing Long March 8 launch vehicle, including the first-stage and boosters. The vehicle has a redesigned second-stage, powered by improved YF-75H engines, and has been extended from 3 to 3.35 meters in diameter. Its upgraded second-stage has increased the payload capacity, with a low Earth orbit capability of 8,400 kilograms, up from 8,100 kilograms, and a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit capacity of 7,000 kilograms, up from 5,000 kilograms.
Speaking about the purpose of the Long March 8A, Song Zhengyu (宋正宇), Chief Designer of the Long March 8 from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said:
"The Long March-8A is an upgraded version of the Long March-8 rocket, specifically developed to meet the launch requirements of large-scale constellation networks in medium- and low-Earth orbits," — "the Long March 8A rocket has the characteristics of advanced performance, low cost, high reliability and rapid launch. This maiden flight mission marks the official debut of the Long March 8A rocket, which will make important contributions to my country's low-orbit satellite network and other tasks. It is of great significance and cannot be missed."
If there are any problems with this translation please reach out and correct me.
According to Xiao Yun (肖云), Chief Commander of the Long March 8 from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the Long March 8A was developed in twenty-eight months and completed forty-four major tests including several technological challenges. Xiao added that the team is confident ahead of the debut mission.
Zhao Lei argues for more private-sector involvement
Zhao Lei, a reporter who covers China’s space sector for China Daily, has recently written an article titled ‘Private industry holds keys to China's cosmic success’ arguing for more private sector involvement in China’s space ambitions.
In his article, Zhao argues that for China to accelerate its space goals and remain competitive with the United States, the government has to tackle policy hurdles and adapt state-funded programs to better integrate the benefits of private sector participation. He emphasizes his point by citing the successes of companies such as LandSpace and SpaceX. Zhao clarifies that his idea does not aim to limit the role of state-owned firms, but rather to create fairer and more inclusive opportunities. He supports this by offering insights from a talk with GalaxySpace regarding the company's market experiences.
If you have a few minutes I’d recommend you read Zhao’s argument as it is roughly 500 words, and I agree with him based on conversations I’ve had too.