П’ята ракета на твердому паливі Jielong-3 (Smart Dragon-3) стартувала 12 January (03:00 UTC 13 January) зі спеціально переобладнаної морської баржі біля узбережжя міста Хайян у східній частині країни провінції Шаньдун. Китайська аерокосмічна науково-технічна корпорація (CASC) оголосила про успішний запуск більш ніж через дві години після старту.
Політ забезпечив виведення на орбіту 10 супутників Microcentispace-01 (Weili Kongjian group 01) для покращення навігації від комерційної компанії Future Navigation, повна назва Beijing Future Navigation Technology Co., Ltd. The company's satellites are in low Earth orbit (LEO) designed to amplify GNSS signals from navigation systems, including Beidou and GPS to provide more accurate navigation services.
The Centispace system will include 190 satellites at different heights and angles of inclination, as well as the ground segment from monitoring stations. These services will provide autonomous driving, precision farming, geoinformation systems (GIS) and emergency response and disaster relief assistance.
The Jielong-3 rocket was developed by the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a subsidiary of CASC, the main state space contractor of the country. The four-stage rocket is operated by China Rocket, commercial division of CASC.
Its length is approx 31 meters, weight at the start - 140 tons, carrying capacity 1560 kg in a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit, for this flight, increased to 1600 Kg.
"In the future, the Smart Dragon-3 missile will undergo further improvements and modernizations, to reduce the cost of commercial launches and increase its carrying capacity", CASC's Gao Lijun told China Central Television (CCTV). "We are evaluating, that after improvement, its carrying capacity will increase from 1,5 tons approximately to 2 tons", Gao said.
The launch was carried out using means of sea launches, belonging to Haiyan East Spaceport. IN 2025 p. The spaceport plans more than 10 launches. IN 2024 p. it was six. Officials said in Chinese media, that the spaceport plans to support 100 launches per year, starting with 2027 year. In general, China launched 68 rockets last year, setting a new national record.
CASC has yet to release an overview of China's overall plans for the year, but he can try to get close again 100 launches, as planned in 2024 year. Main missions on 2025 year include Shenzhou and Tianzhou manned cargoes to the Tiangong Space Station and the Tianwen-2 Near-Earth Asteroid Sample Return Mission . Expected, that the latter will take place around May.
Source: https://spacenews.com/chinese-sea-launch-sends-10-navigation-enhancement-satellites-into-orbit/