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China launches national record 22 satellites on Long March 8 commercial rideshare
spacenews.com – 27 Feb, 2022
China’s second Long March 8 rocket launched
late Saturday carrying a domestic record 22
satellites for a range of commercial Chinese
space companies. The Long March 8 lifted off
from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at
10:06 p.m. Eastern Feb. 26, with the China
Aerospace Science and Technology
Corporation (CASC) later confirming launch
success. The second Long March 8 flew
without the pair of side boosters used in the
rocket’s first mission back in December 2020.
It has a length of 50.3 meters long and a
mass at takeoff of 356 tons.
The Long March 8 has been slated for test
development of vertical takeoff, vertical
landing, during which side boosters would
remain attached to the first stage. Saturday’s
mission was expendable, launching over the
sea from Hainan island. The Long March 8
combines the 3.35-meter-diameter new-
generation Long March 7 kerosene-liquid
oxygen first stage with a 3-meter-diameter
hydrolox second stage from the older Long
March 3A series. “To put it simply, we have
hammered out a ‘carpooling’ solution to
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February 28, 2022
launch many small satellites in one successful
launch mission,” Xiao Yun, chief commander
of the Long March 8 rocket program, told
CCTV.
The China Great Wall Industry Corporation
(CGWIC), a subsidiary of CASC, launched the
first “Long March Express” rideshare using a
Long March 6 in April 2021. A number of
contracts for the new rideshare were signed
at the Zhuhai Airshow in late September.
The payloads on the Long March 8 involved
seven manufacturers with end users
including seven commercial companies and
two research institutes. Changguang Satellite
Technology, a Changchun-based remote
sensing constellation operator and spinoff
from the Chinese Academy of Sciences’
CIOMP, launched 10 new Jilin-1 satellites for
its constellation of remote sensing satellites
of the same name. These were the Jilin-1
GF03D10-18 satellites, with GF standing for
“Gaofen” or high resolution, with each of the
eight satellites having a mass of around 43
kilograms. Jilin-1 MF02A01 is a 32-kilogram
multi-functional satellite to test a new
platform.
A number of the satellites also carry secondary
names through sponsorships. Small satellite
maker Minospace manufactured five satellites
aboard the mission. Two of these were the
Taijing-3 (01) 240-kilogram optical and Taijing-
4 (01) 250-kilogram synthetic aperture radar
(SAR) satellites which will be operated by
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 Space @ a glance
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Minospace. The firm also made the
Wenchang-1 (01) and (02) wide-field
multispectral satellites for the Sanya Institute
of Remote Sensing and Hainan Westar
Remote Sensing Technology Application
Service respectively, each with a mass of 62.5
kilograms. The Xidian-1 hyperspectral remote
sensing satellite is for the new Silk Road
Tiantu constellation and operated by Shaanxi
Silk Road Tiantu Satellite Technology.
Changsha-based commercial spacecraft
maker and constellation operator Spacety
launched the Chaohu-1 satellite, the first of
the planned Tianxian SAR constellation in
cooperation with the China Electronics
Technology Group (CETC). The 325-kilogram
satellite builds on the Hisea-1 SAR satellite
launched on the previous Long March 8
flight. Spacety also had the 14-kilogram Thor
Smart Satellite on the mission. The satellite
carries a distributed software protocol test
payloads and three GRID gamma ray burst
detectors and the Aurora-2 X-ray
polarimeter.
Tianqi-19 was manufactured by Shandong
Institute of Aerospace Electronics Technology
for Guodian Gaoke and its Tianqi low-Earth
orbit narrow-band Internet of Things
constellation. The roughly 60-kilogram
Hainan-1 (01) and (02) satellites were
developed by Shenzhen Aerospace
Dongfanghong Satellite, ultimately under the
ownership of CASC, for Hainan Westar
Remote Sensing Technology Application
Service. The satellites carry imagers and
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February 28, 2022
automatic identification system (AIS)
receivers for maritime surveillance. Star Era-
17 (Xingshidai-17), also referred to as
“Dayun”, the Chinese name for the
Universiade international sports event to be
held this year in Chengdu, is a 20-kilogram
satellite carrying visible light and thermal
infrared imagers and “AI payloads”
developed and operated by ADA Space,
based in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan
province, southwest China. The firm
raised $55.6 million in Series B round late last
year for its AI satellite constellation plans.
Finally, the Phospherus-1 22-kilogram optical
satellite was developed by Wuhan University
for hyperspectral imaging.
Earlier on Saturday China launched the L-SAR
01B satellite on a Long March 4C, sending the
synthetic aperture radar satellite to operate
in formation with the L-SAR 01A
satellite launched in January. The hypergolic
rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch
Center at 6:44 p.m. Eastern Feb. 26,
CASC confirmed. The launches were China’s
third and fourth orbital missions of 2022 and
the first following an extended break for the
Lunar New Year celebrations. Main space
contractor CASC is planning to launch more
than 50 times this year, with a number
of commercial companies also planning to
launch a range of liquid and solid rockets.
China set a new domestic record of 55
launches in 2021, far surpassing the previous
record of 39 launches conducted by China in
2018 and 2020.
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