Abstract The development of the Long March 2C launch vehicle by China began in 1970, and exploited experience with military missiles. However, within seconds of lifting off from the Juiquan launch site in the Gobi desert of northwestern China for its début mission on 5 November 1974 it swayed precariously, and had to be destroyed.1 The investigation of the telemetry and the wreckage concluded that a cable running between the gyroscope and the flight control system was broken by the vibration. The wiring was improved and subjected to more realistic testing, the quality control in manufacturing was improved, and the vehicle was successfully introduced a year later. It was able to place 2.3 tonnes into low orbit, and was used primarily with the Fanhui Shi Weixing (FSW) recoverable satellites.2 On 6 October 1992 a Long March 2C carried Sweden’s Freya satellite as a piggyback payload with an FSW satellite. In April 1993, after 12 straight successes, this launch vehicle was booked by Motorola to deploy one-third of its Iridium constellation.3 These 22 satellites were to be launched in pairs using a ‘smart dispenser’ in a version named the Long March 2C-SD.4 After testing the dispenser using dummy satellites on 1 September 1997, the deployments started on 8 December 1997, but ceased in 1999 when the company filed for bankruptcy. Having purchased a 5 per cent share, the China Great Wall Industry Corporation was rather disillusioned.
The Chinese experience
2005-01-01
9 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
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