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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
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.