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The Long March 12B is a reusable, commercial rocket that will help China to build its own satellite megaconstellations.(Image credit: VCG/VCG via Getty Images)Share this article 0Join the conversationFollow usAdd us as a preferred source on GoogleSubscribe to our newsletter
China has just conducted the inaugural flight of its rocket designed as a competitor to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, reportedly without issuing any prior safety advisories.
The 236-foot-tall (72 meters) March 12B rocket ascended at 4:40 p.m. local time (4:40 a.m. EDT) on Monday (June 1), departing from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone located in Inner Mongolia, a northern region of China.
The China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), a state-funded entity specializing in rocket and missile production, disclosed the launch details after the event had concluded. The rocket had been observed on its launchpad recently, but according to SpaceNews, no airspace notices were apparently disseminated for a launch.
International airspace and maritime advisories are typically issued to alert aviation and maritime traffic to potential dangers associated with a launch, such as the possibility of falling debris. These are conventional global safety protocols for space launches, although experts have indicated that China’s space endeavors do not consistently adhere to international standards, as reported by Scientific American.
The Long March 12B is a commercial rocket capable of reuse, engineered to support China’s satellite internet initiatives. On this occasion, the launch did not incorporate a recovery trial, though a first-stage recovery test is scheduled for a future date, as stated by CASIC.
The Long March 12B was launched from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone in Inner Mongolia on June 1.
(Image credit: VCG/VCG via Getty Images)
The Long March 12B represents China’s most recent advancement in developing reusable rockets that employ propulsive landings, as opposed to being discarded after a single mission. This approach has significantly reduced the financial burden for SpaceX in establishing extensive satellite constellations in orbit. As a more potent successor to last year’s Long March 12A, the Long March 12B possesses a payload capacity of approximately 22 tons (22 metric tonnes) for low Earth orbit missions.
The rocket successfully transported the 10th group of China’s Qianfan, or “Thousand Sails,” satellites into low Earth orbit. China is in the process of constructing a massive constellation of internet service satellites intended to compete with SpaceX’s Starlink. Similar to Starlink, the “Thousand Sails” satellites surpass the brightness thresholds set by astronomical organizations, posing a challenge for astronomers observing the night sky.
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China is intensifying its rocket launches as part of a renewed space competition with the U.S., which includes strategic placement of critical infrastructure in Earth’s orbit and beyond. For instance, both nations are planning to establish a continuous human presence on the moon in the coming years. NASA’s current timeline anticipates lunar landings by astronauts in 2028, while China aims to land its taikonauts on the lunar surface prior to 2030. However, there is no certainty that the U.S. will achieve lunar colonization first.
Following NASA’s significant Artemis II lunar flyby mission, China has committed to expediting its lunar program, as reported by Asia Times. The nation intends to dispatch humans to the moon using the Mengzhou spacecraft, propelled into space by a Long March 10A rocket—a considerably larger crewed counterpart to the Long March 12B, which underwent testing in February. Subsequently, another rocket is slated to convey a Lanyue lunar lander to the moon on a separate flight, before they link up with Mengzhou in lunar orbit, as detailed by Nature.
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