China successfully launches Long March 6A for the first time
China today successfully completed the first launched of its Long March 6A rocket, upgraded significantly from earlier versions of the Long March 6.
The launch also debuted a new launchpad at China’s Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the country’s interior. The two payloads deployed appear to be technology tests, though China provided little information.
The launch of the Long March 6A also sported four solid rocket strap-on boosters. With these and the core first stage all crashing on land in China, there was no word whether any had any technology for controlling their landings.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
11 SpaceX
7 China
4 Russia
2 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 17 to 7 in the national rankings.
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China today successfully completed the first launched of its Long March 6A rocket, upgraded significantly from earlier versions of the Long March 6.
The launch also debuted a new launchpad at China’s Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the country’s interior. The two payloads deployed appear to be technology tests, though China provided little information.
The launch of the Long March 6A also sported four solid rocket strap-on boosters. With these and the core first stage all crashing on land in China, there was no word whether any had any technology for controlling their landings.
The leaders in the 2022 launch race:
11 SpaceX
7 China
4 Russia
2 ULA
The U.S. now leads China 17 to 7 in the national rankings.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Are mercury emissions by rockets and satellites something to be concerned about?
https://www.mercuryconvention.org/sites/default/files/documents/submission_from_government/Norway2_Satellite.pdf
saw this posted on twitter yesterday: https://twitter.com/KevinHBell/status/1508549019785703427
Just thinking that if SpaceX has been or is currently emitting mercury from its satellites, then China might be putting out even more or other harmful substances into the atmosphere.
So this is part of the CZ-6 family of rockets. Reading more, they state that they can put up a payload using this series of rockets at this new launch tower, that is largely automated, in 14 days.
Steve,
I looked at your links and that guy’s twitter. The Starlink satellites use krypton, an inert gas, for propulsion. They do not use mercury.
“… The Starlink satellites use krypton, an inert gas, for propulsion. They do not use mercury. …”
Thanks Jay. I have faith in SpaceX to not pollute the atmosphere. But no such assumption that China would not knowingly do something to damage the people of the world.