LM-11 Offers First “Special Car” Service to Commercial User

A LM-11 solid launch vehicle soared into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, carrying 5 Zhuhai 1 satellites into their preset orbits. These satellites will be operated by the Zhuhai Orbita Aerospace Science and Technology Co., Ltd. It was the 272nd mission with the LM family rockets.

The LM-11 solid launch vehicle was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology. This flight was the fourth “multiple satellites with one launch” mission carried out by LM-11 following the missions launching 4 satellites in 2015, 5 satellites in 2016 and 6 satellites last January each with one vehicle. The 4 consecutive successes featured flawless flights and a higher obit injection accuracy, verifying the high performance and reliability of the LM-11 launch vehicle.

JIN Xin, deputy commander-inchief of the LM-11 solid carrier rocket,expressed that it was the first “special car” service provided for commercial satellite customers by LM-11 as well as the first domestic networking launch of 5 satellites into the same orbital plane,greatly reducing the cost for satellite networking. These satellites are mainly used in remote sensing imaging, providing a satellite big data service for users in the field of land resources,agriculture and forestry, environmental protection, planning, transport and oceanography.

He said, to enable the customers to obtain maximum benefit from one launch, the LM-11 team used an innovative mode to efficiently solve difficulties such as multi-satellite docking and assembly through the joint design of the rocket and satellites. A light multi-satellite adapter was designed to improve the rocket launch capacity, meeting customer’s individual requirements.

The LM-11 carrier rocket is 20.8 m long, with a diameter of 2 m and weight of 58 t. With about 120 t liftoff thrust,LM-11 can put a 700 kg payload into low Earth orbit or 500 kg into a sunsynchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 km. It is capable of launching small science, experimental satellites and commercial satellites.

A LM-11 is blasting off from the JSLC, putting Zhuhai 1 satellites into space