China Long March-8 Liftoff: New Satellites for Commercial SpaceSail Constellation
China launched a Long March-8 carrier rocket on Friday, June 5, 2026, in the southern island province of Hainan, sending a new satellite group into space. The rocket lifted off at 2:34 p.m. (Beijing Time) from the Hainan commercial spacecraft launch site. The satellite group, the 12th batch that will make up the SpaceSail Constellation, entered into the preset orbit successfully. After the latest launch, the total number of satellites in the SpaceSail Constellation has reached 200, accelerating the formation of China's large-scale commercial low-orbit satellite network.
The Long March-8 is a new-generation medium-lift liquid-fueled carrier rocket, primarily developed for commercial satellite constellation deployment missions. This launch marked the third flight of the Long March-8 rocket in 2026, just 18 days after its previous mission on May 17.
The Long March-8, together with the Long March-8A carrier rocket, have payload capacities of 5 tonnes and 7 tonnes to sun-synchronous orbit, respectively. This underscores China's upgraded launch capabilities for deploying satellites into medium and low Earth orbits.
This year, the Long March 8 rockets will enter a high-density launch schedule, continuing to support the development of China's low-Earth orbit satellite Internet constellations and the high-quality development of the country's commercial space sector.
Duration: 24 seconds
Release Date: June 5, 2026
No comments:
Post a Comment