China's biggest rocket has blasted off from the southern coast, helping to advance its own plans for a space station. The Long March 5 is estimated to be three times as powerful as previous Chinese technology.
Image: REUTERS/China Daily
Advertisement
The ML5, which is larger than previous versions of the Long March carrier rockets, was launched from a pad in the southern province of Hainan on Thursday evening, the state news agency Xinhua said.
"Its successful launch has propelled China to the forefront of the world in terms of rocket carrying capacity, and marks a milestone in China's transition from a major player in space to a major power in space," Xinhua cited the ruling Communist Party's Central Committee and powerful Central Military Commission as saying in a letter.
New space race
The rocket is capable of carrying 25 tons of payload into low-earth orbit - the equivalent weight of 16 cars - and 14 tons to the more distant geostationary transfer orbit. That is more than twice the carrying capacity of China's earlier Long March rockets.
Thursday evening's launch came a few weeks after China began its longest manned space mission, sending two astronauts to spend a month aboard the Tiangong 2 space laboratory.
Beijing plans to build a permanently manned space station by 2022. The LM 5 rocket will help deliver components and other massive payloads to such a station. It could also be used for lunar and Mars missions.
China has sent two astronauts to its space lab Tiangong 2Image: picture-alliance/dpa/Imagechina/A. Xin
The US Defense Department highlighted China's increasing space capabilities, saying Beijing was pursuing activities aimed at preventing other nations from using space-based assets during a crisis.
But the ML5 project is years behind schedule after test firings led to several failures, the "South China Morning Post" newspaper reported.
Despite its advancements for military, commercial and scientific purposes, China is still playing catch-up to established space powers the United States and Russia, experts have said.
China's Jade Rabbit moon rover landed on the moon in late 2013 to great national fanfare but soon suffered severe technical difficulties. The EU's most recent space mission, the ExoMars lander Schiaparelli, also fell victim to a serious technical problem and may have exploded on impact.
US companies, including SpaceX and Blue Origin, are now developing commercial space flight capabilities. Both companies are developing reusable rockets, and SpaceX has put forward the ambitious goal of a human mission to Mars as early as 2024.
China's ambitious space odyssey in pictures
China's goal to catch up with major space powers like the US and Russia has moved a step forward, with the nation flagging off its longest manned mission. Beijing aims to have a permanent space outpost by 2022.
Image: Picture-Alliance/dpa/H. H. Young
3,2,1… Shenzhou-11 in space
With two astronauts on board, the Shenzhou-11 - or the "Divine Vessel" - rocket blasted off into space early in the morning on Monday, October 17. It is the sixth time China has launched astronauts into space. The spacecraft will take two days to reach the Tiangong-2 space lab, which was launched last month.
Image: Picture-Alliance/dpa/H. H. Young
Experienced astronauts
The two-member crew, made up of astronauts Jing Haipeng and Chen Dong, will remain on board for 30 days. They will conduct research Projects, including those relating to repairing equipment in-orbit, aerospace medicine and atomic space clocks, reported the official Xinhua news agency. Jing, the mission commander, is on his third mission into orbit and will celebrate his 50th birthday in space.
Image: Picture-Alliance/dpa/H. H. Young
Tiangong is waiting
China launched the space lab Tiangong-2, or "Heavenly Palace-2," in September. The lab, which is nine meters long and weighs 13 tons, is in orbit 393 kilometers above Earth. It has two cabins - a hermetically sealed experiment chamber that also serves as the living quarters, and a resources store holding supplies such as solar panels, engines and batteries.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/A. Xin
An important achievement
The launch of the Tiangong-2 space lab had an enormous symbolic significance, said Wu Ping, Deputy Director of China's manned space engineering office. That's because the lab was farther, bigger and had a greater life span than its predecessor, she added.
China used the Long March-2F carrier rocket to launch the Shenzhou-11 mission. The 464 ton, 52-meter-tall Long March-2F carrier rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, a military-operated facility on the edge of the Gobi Desert.
Image: picture-alliance/Photoshot/Y. Zhiyuan
An ambitious space program
China is intensifying efforts to build up its capabilities in space. To that effect, it plans to send its first space cargo ship Tianzhou-1 to the space lab in April 2017. The cargo ship will allow China to replenish the lab with fuel and other supplies.
Image: Reuters
China wants its own space station
The Chinese astronauts will conduct experiments on various space-related technologies and perform docking maneuvers. They are necessary for the country to achieve its goal of setting up its own space station. If, as planned, the International Space Station (shown in the picture) ends its mission in 2024, China would be the only country with a permanent post in outer space.
Image: Reuters/NASA
A 'Made in China' Mars rover
China recently published pictures of probes it wants to send to Mars in future to explore the planet. But so far, there have only been computer simulations showing a six-wheeled rover and a related landing craft. As Xinhua reported, the remote-controlled probe will conduct tests on the Martian surface and look for traces of water during a three-month mission to the planet by the end of the decade.
Image: SASTIND
The predecessor
The first Chinese space laboratory, Tiangong-1, was launched in September 2011. It went out of service in March after docking with three visiting spacecraft and extending its mission for two years.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
The first docking maneuver on Tiangong-1
Three spaceships had docked with Tiangong-1 before the lab went out of service. In 2011, the unmanned Shenzhou-8 mission (shown in photo) was able to dock with Tiangong-1 twice with a gap of 11 days. In 2012, Jing, the commander of the current Shenzhou-11 mission, successfully completed the docking maneuver.
