The private launch provider Tianbing Technology has officially unveiled its Tianlong-3 launch vehicle at the 9th China (International) Commercial Space Summit Forum.
Some specs:
- Length: 71m
- Diameter: 3.8m
- Mass: 590 tons
- Thrust at takeoff: 770 tons
- Payload to LEO: 17 tons
| Ceres-1 | $4,887,176.00 per launch | $13,963.75 per kilogram |
| Hyperbola-1 | $4,468,400.00 | $15,499.76 |
| CZ-5 | $161,979,500.00 | $7,121.51 |
| CZ-7 | $94,958,804.00 | $7,121.91 |
| CZ-11 | $4,468,649.60 | $9,495.88 |
| CZ-6 | $18,153,889.00 | $8,937.30 |
| Kuaizhou-1A | $2,653,483.00 | $9,496.68 |
| CZ-4B | $27,931,400.00 | $6,843.19 |
| CZ-3B | $65,638,790.00 | $5,586.28 |
| CZ-2D | $27,931,400.00 | $8,100.11 |
A model of the Red Dragon One engine from the private company Tianhui Aerospace. LOX/Kerosene, 1000kn thrust, specific impulse 303s, adjustable thrust 50% to 105%.
I wonder why do they call this orbit LEO instead of SSO. Of course by altitude LEO and SSO are the same, but when the inclination is greater than 60 degrees, it is usually called SSO by all Chinese papers as far as I know.Some presentation slides on Tianlong-3 from Tianbing Technology. First launch is planned for late May of 2024.
- Two stages
- 1st stage uses seven TH-12 engines
- 2nd stage uses one TH-12V engine
- Payload capacity to LEO (800km): ≥ 10 tons
I got answer for myself. It is to emphasize the purpose of the targetted payload being LEO communication sattelite many of which goes over the pole. While SSO all goes near the pole, their orbit is arranged specially to go over the observing spot on earth at the time when the spot is brightly light by the sun, therefor the name sun synchronous. But LEO communication sattelite most often does not go over the sun lighting area, therefor not sun synchronous.
You don't need to be aggressive. In case I miss out something, just remind me. I always welcome friendly reminder.
Thanks for reminding me. I was thinking that we need a non-Chinese space program thread too but didn't realize that we already have one. The reason I posted this news because, first, India always wants to compare to China, and then, I didn't realize we already have a non-Chinese space program thread.
The construction on the Daocheng Solar Radio Telescope (DSRT) has been finished as scheduled. The system will now undergo calibration before entering service.
DSRT is the world's largest circular radio telescope array. It's made up of of 313 parabolic antennas (each 6 meters in diameter) that are arranged in a ring 1km in diameter. It will be used to study solar eruptions (e.g. coronal mass ejections).
