China’s Long March 6 launches two military technology test satellites
Using its Long March 6 rocket, China yesterday successfully placed two military technology test satellites into orbit, designed to test “new interference suppression technology for Ka-band mobile communications satellites.”
The launch occurred at one of China’s interior spaceports. No word on whether the rocket’s first stage crashed near habitable area.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
25 China
20 SpaceX
12 Russia
3 Northrop Grumman
3 Rocket Lab
The U.S. still leads China 30 to 25 in the national rankings.
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Using its Long March 6 rocket, China yesterday successfully placed two military technology test satellites into orbit, designed to test “new interference suppression technology for Ka-band mobile communications satellites.”
The launch occurred at one of China’s interior spaceports. No word on whether the rocket’s first stage crashed near habitable area.
The leaders in the 2021 launch race:
25 China
20 SpaceX
12 Russia
3 Northrop Grumman
3 Rocket Lab
The U.S. still leads China 30 to 25 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.
Bob, assuming all goes well with the upcoming SpaceX Starship flight, will its purposeful re-entry before a complete orbit rule it out from this list?
Matt in AZ: Y’know, that’s a great question that I had not thought of. I think if the flight is successful and Starship lands as intended, I will include it, as the only reason they aren’t going to orbit is I think for testing purposes. If it makes it to its targeted landing point it will mean it could have just as easily completed a full orbit.
I am open of course to suggestions. What say my readers?
@RobertZ: So the SN20 flight is not supposed to be a complete orbit. The question is, do they hit the needed altitude, and speed for orbit.
Even if they do not land, since it is not clear they plan to land the upper stage, rather just reenter, get the data. Ocean seems to be the target and unclear if they will have something to land on underneath it.
All of which is to say, as much as I want it to count, I would vote for probably no.
I think you should keep strict criteria. Otherwise Lex Luthor will want you to count every amusement park ride on Blue Origin
It all depends upon whether Starship makes orbit. If it makes orbit but brakes out of orbit before completing a single revolution, I will count it in my records. If it remains on a suborbital though long trajectory, I will not.
I count Yuri Gagarin’s flight as an orbital flight because he made orbit, though he did not complete a single revolution with his craft. ICBM flights are suborbital trajectories even if they are intercontinental, so they don’t count.
How strong is the possibility that the Chinese military test satellites are designed to test new interference tech against US military communications? Wonder what US Space Command thinks?
With Northrup and RocketLab having 3 each…added to Musk gives me 26 launches of any size. What are the other 4? I would not count air launchs for anything less than than a Stratolaunch release…but I would count Starship as second stage. Tons to orbital velocity is what I would go by.
Jeff Wright: Virgin Orbit and ULA have two each. They don’t have enough to make the leader board.