Long March 3B

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March_3B

 

Long March 3B

The launch of a Long March 3B carrier rocket at Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
Function	Carrier rocket
Manufacturer	CALT
Country of origin	China
Cost per launch	More than US $70M (compare Long march 3A cost)
Size
Height	3B: 54.8 m (180 ft) 3B/E: 56.3 m (185 ft)
Diameter	3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Mass	3B: 425,800 kg (938,700 lb) 3B/E: 458,970 kg (1,011,860 lb)
Stages	3 / 4
Capacity
Payload to LEO	11,500 kg (25,400 lb)
Payload to SSO	7,100 kg (15,700 lb)
Payload to GTO	3B: 5,100 kg (11,200 lb) 3B/E: 5,500 kg (12,100 lb)
Payload to GEO	2,000 kg (4,400 lb)
Payload to HCO	3,300 kg (7,300 lb)
Associated rockets
Family	Long March
Derivatives	Long March 3C
Comparable	Atlas V Delta IV Falcon 9 GSLV Mk III H-IIA Zenit-3F
Launch history
Status	3B: Retired 3B/E: Active
Launch sites	Xichang LC-2, LC-3
Total launches	64 3B: 12 3B/E: 52
Successes	61 3B: 10 3B/E: 51
Failures	1 (3B, Intelsat 708)
Partial failures	2 3B: 1 (Palapa-D) 3B/E: 1 (Chinasat 9A)
First flight	3B: 14 February 1996 (Intelsat 708) 3B/E: 13 May 2007 (NigComSat-1)
Last flight	3B: 18 September 2012 (Compass M5, M6) 3B/E: Active
Boosters (3B)
No. boosters	4
Length	15.33 m (50.3 ft)
Diameter	2.25 m (7 ft 5 in)
Propellant mass	37,700 kg (83,100 lb)
Engines	1 × YF-25
Thrust	740.4 kN (166,400 lbf)
Specific impulse	2,556.2 m/s (260.66 s)
Burn time	127 s
Fuel	N2O4 / UDMH
Boosters (3B/E)
No. boosters	4
Length	16.1 m (53 ft)
Diameter	2.25 m (7 ft 5 in)
Propellant mass	41,100 kg (90,600 lb)
Engines	1 × YF-25
Thrust	740.4 kN (166,400 lbf)
Specific impulse	2,556.2 m/s (260.66 s)
Burn time	140 s
Fuel	N2O4 / UDMH
First stage (3B)
Length	23.27 m (76.3 ft)
Diameter	3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Propellant mass	171,800 kg (378,800 lb)
Engines	4 × YF-21C
Thrust	2,961.6 kN (665,800 lbf)
Specific impulse	2,556.5 m/s (260.69 s)
Burn time	145 s
Fuel	N2O4 / UDMH
First stage (3B/E)
Length	24.76 m (81.2 ft)
Diameter	3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Propellant mass	186,200 kg (410,500 lb)
Engines	4 × YF-21C
Thrust	2,961.6 kN (665,800 lbf)
Specific impulse	2,556.5 m/s (260.69 s)
Burn time	158 s
Fuel	N2O4 / UDMH
Second stage
Length	12.92 m (42.4 ft)
Diameter	3.35 m (11.0 ft)
Propellant mass	49,400 kg (108,900 lb)
Engines	1 × YF-24E YF-22E (Main) YF-23F (Vernier)
Thrust	742 kN (167,000 lbf) (Main) 47.1 kN (10,600 lbf) (Vernier)
Specific impulse	2,922.57 m/s (298.019 s) (Main) 2,910.5 m/s (296.79 s) (Vernier)
Burn time	185 s
Fuel	N2O4 / UDMH
Third stage
Length	12.38 m (40.6 ft)
Diameter	3.0 m (9.8 ft)
Propellant mass	18,200 kg (40,100 lb)
Engines	2 × YF-75
Thrust	167.17 kN (37,580 lbf)
Specific impulse	4,295 m/s (438.0 s)
Burn time	478 s
Fuel	LH2 / LOX
Fourth stage (optional) – YZ-1
Engines	1 × YF-50D
Thrust	6.5 kN (1,500 lbf)
Specific impulse	315.5 s (3.094 km/s)
Fuel	N2O4 / UDMH

The Long March 3B (Chinese: 长征三号乙火箭, Chang Zheng 3B), also known as the CZ-3B and LM-3B, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket. Introduced in 1996, it is launched from Launch Area 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan. A three-stage rocket with four strap-on liquid rocket boosters, it is currently the most powerful member of the Long March rocket family and the heaviest of the Long March 3 rocket family, and is mainly used to place communications satellites into geosynchronous orbits.

An enhanced version, the Long March 3B/E or G2, was introduced in 2007 to increase the rocket's GTO cargo capacity and lift heavier GEO communications satellites. The Long March 3B also served as the basis for the medium-capacity Long March 3C, which was first launched in 2008.

As of December 2019, the Long March 3B and 3B/E have conducted 61 successful launches, plus one failure and two partial failures, giving them a success rate of 95.3%.

History

Diagram of the Long March 3B, showing its outboard liquid rocket boosters.

 

The development of the Long March 3B began in 1986 to meet the needs of the international GEO communications satellite market. During its maiden flight on 14 February 1996 carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite, the rocket suffered a guidance failure two seconds into the flight and destroyed a nearby town, killing at least six people, but outside estimates suggest that anywhere between 200 and 500 people might have been killed. However, the author of the report later ruled out large casualties, because evidence suggests that the crash site was evacuated before the launch.

The Long March 3B and 3B/E rockets conducted ten successful launches between 1997 and 2008.

In 1997, the Agila 2 satellite was forced to use onboard propellant to reach its correct orbit because of poor injection accuracy on the part of its Long March 3B launch vehicle. In 2009, a Long March 3B partially failed during launch due to a third stage anomaly, which resulted in the Palapa-D satellite reaching a lower orbit than planned. Nonetheless, the satellite was able to maneuver itself into the planned orbit. The Long March 3B and its variants remain in active use as of January 2014, having conducted a total of 23 consecutive successful launches.

In December 2013, a Long March 3B/E successfully lifted Chang'e 3, China's first Lunar lander and rover into the projected lunar-transfer orbit. 

Design and variants

The Long March 3B is based on the Long March 3A as its core stage, with four liquid boosters strapped on the first stage. It has an LEO cargo capacity of 11,200 kilograms (24,700 lb) and a GTO capacity is 5,100 kilograms (11,200 lb).

Long March 3B/E

The Long March 3B/E, also known as 3B/G2, is an enhanced variant of the Long March 3B, featuring an enlarged first stage and boosters, increasing its GTO payload capacity to 5,500 kilograms (12,100 lb). Its maiden flight took place on 13 May 2007, when it successfully launched Nigeria's NigComSat-1, the first African geosynchronous communications satellite. In 2013, it successfully launched China's first lunar lander Chang'e 3 and lunar rover Yutu. 

Since 2015, the Long March 3B and 3C can optionally accommodate a YZ-1 upper stage, which has been used to carry dual launches or BeiDou navigation satellites into medium-Earth orbit.

Long March 3C

A modified version of the Long March 3B, the Long March 3C, was developed in the mid-1990s to bridge the gap in payload capacity between the Long March 3B and 3A. It is almost identical to the Long March 3B, but has two boosters instead of four, giving it a reduced GTO payload capacity of 3,800 kilograms (8,400 lb). Its maiden launch took place on 25 April 2008. 

List of Launches

Flight number	Date (UTC)	Launch site	Version	Payload	Orbit	Result
1	February 14, 1996 19:01	LA-2, XSLC	3B	Intelsat 708	GTO	Failure
2	August 19, 1997 17:50	LA-2, XSLC	3B	Agila-2	GTO	Success
3	October 16, 1997 19:13	LA-2, XSLC	3B	APStar 2R	GTO	Success
4	May 30, 1998 10:00	LA-2, XSLC	3B	Chinastar 1	GTO	Success
5	July 18, 1998 09:20	LA-2, XSLC	3B	SinoSat 1	GTO	Success
6	April 12, 2005 12:00	LA-2, XSLC	3B	APStar 6	GTO	Success
7	October 28, 2006 16:20	LA-2, XSLC	3B	SinoSat 2	GTO	Success
8	May 13, 2007 16:01	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	NigComSat-1	GTO	Success
9	July 5, 2007 12:08	LA-2, XSLC	3B	ChinaSat 6B	GTO	Success
10	June 9, 2008 12:15	LA-2, XSLC	3B	ChinaSat 9	GTO	Success
11	October 29, 2008 16:53	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Venesat-1	GTO	Success
12	August 31, 2009 09:28	LA-2, XSLC	3B	Palapa-D	GTO	Partial Failure
13	September 4, 2010 16:14	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	SinoSat 6	GTO	Success
14	June 20, 2011 16:13	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 10	GTO	Success
15	August 11, 2011 16:15	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Paksat-1R	GTO	Success
16	September 18, 2011 16:33	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 1A	GTO	Success
17	October 7, 2011 08:21	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Eutelsat W3C	GTO	Success
18	December 19, 2011 16:41	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	NigComSat-1R	GTO	Success
19	March 31, 2012 10:27	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	APStar 7	GTO	Success
20	April 29, 2012 20:50	LA-2, XSLC	3B	Compass-M3 Compass-M4	MTO	Success
21	May 26, 2012 15:56	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 2A	GTO	Success
22	September 18, 2012 19:10	LA-2, XSLC	3B	Compass-M5 Compass-M6	MTO	Success
23	November 27, 2012 10:13	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 12	GTO	Success
24	May 1, 2013 16:06	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 11	GTO	Success
25	December 1, 2013 17:30	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Chang'e 3	LTO	Success
26	December 20, 2013 16:42	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Túpac Katari 1	GTO	Success
27	July 25, 2015 12:29	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou M1-S BeiDou M2-S	MEO	Success
28	September 12, 2015 15:42	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	TJS-1	GTO	Success
29	September 29, 2015 23:13	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	BeiDou I2-S	GTO	Success
30	October 16, 2015 16:16	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	APStar 9	GTO	Success
31	November 3, 2015 16:25	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 2C	GTO	Success
32	November 20, 2015 16:07	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	LaoSat-1	GTO	Success
33	December 9, 2015 16:46	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 1C	GTO	Success
34	December 28, 2015 16:04	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Gaofen 4	GTO	Success
35	January 15, 2016 16:57	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	Belintersat-1	GTO	Success
36	August 5, 2016 16:22	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	Tiantong-1-01	GTO	Success
37	December 10, 2016 16:11	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	Fengyun-4A	GTO	Success
38	January 5, 2017 15:18	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	TJS-2	GTO	Success
39	April 12, 2017 11:04	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Shijian 13	GTO	Success
40	June 19, 2017 16:11	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Chinasat 9A	GTO	Partial Failure
41	November 5, 2017 11:45	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M1 BeiDou-3 M2	MEO	Success
42	December 10, 2017 16:40	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Alcomsat-1	GTO	Success
43	January 11, 2018 23:18	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M7 BeiDou-3 M8	MEO	Success
44	February 12, 2018 05:03	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M3 BeiDou-3 M4	MEO	Success
45	March 29, 2018 17:56	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M9 BeiDou-3 M10	MEO	Success
46	May 3, 2018 16:06	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Apstar 6C	GTO	Success
47	July 29, 2018 01:48	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M5 BeiDou-3 M6	MEO	Success
48	August 24, 2018 23:52	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M11 BeiDou-3 M12	MEO	Success
49	September 19, 2018 14:07	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M13 BeiDou-3 M14	MEO	Success
50	October 15, 2018 04:23	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M15 BeiDou-3 M16	MEO	Success
51	November 1, 2018 15:57	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	BeiDou-3 G1	GTO	Success
52	November 18, 2018 18:07	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M17 BeiDou-3 M18	MEO	Success
53	December 7, 2018 18:23	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Chang'e 4	LTO	Success
54	January 10, 2019 17:11	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 2D	GTO	Success
55	March 9, 2019 16:28	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 6C	GTO	Success
56	March 31, 2019 15:51	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	Tianlian 2-01	GTO	Success
57	April 20, 2019 14:41	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	BeiDou-3 I1	GTO	Success
58	June 24, 2019 18:09	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	BeiDou-3 I2	GTO	Success
59	August 19, 2019 12:03	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	ChinaSat 18	GTO	Success
60	September 22, 2019 21:10	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M23 BeiDou-3 M24	MEO	Success
61	October 17, 2019 15:21	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E	TJSW-4	GTO	Success
62	November 4, 2019 17:43	LA-2, XSLC	3B/E	BeiDou-3 I3	GTO	Success
63	November 23, 2019 00:55	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M21 BeiDou-3 M22	MEO	Success
64	December 16, 2019 07:22	LA-3, XSLC	3B/E + YZ-1	BeiDou-3 M19 BeiDou-3 M20	MEO	Success

Flight mishaps

Intelsat 708 launch failure

On February 14, 1996, the launch of the first Long March 3B with Intelsat 708 failed just after liftoff when the launch vehicle veered off course and exploded when it hit the ground at T+23 seconds. One person on the ground was killed by the explosion (the total number of casualties is unknown). The cause of the accident was traced to short-circuiting of the vehicle's guidance platform at liftoff. The number of casualties is debated and unclear even decades after the accident. The Chinese official death toll is usually of the order of few casualties, whereas some estimates place the number of people dead to a few hundred. 

The participation of Space Systems/Loral in the accident investigation caused great political controversy in the United States, since information provided during the accident investigation would help China improve its rockets and ballistic missiles. The U.S. Congress reclassified satellite technology as a munition and placed it back under the restrictive International Traffic in Arms Regulations in 1998. No license to launch U.S. spacecraft on Chinese rockets has been approved by the U.S. State Department since then, and an official at the Bureau of Industry and Security emphasized in 2016 that "no U.S.-origin content, regardless of significance, regardless of whether it’s incorporated into a foreign-made item, can go to China."

Palapa-D partial launch failure

On August 31, 2009, during the launch of Palapa-D, the third stage engine under-performed and placed the satellite into a lower than planned orbit. The satellite was able to make up the performance shortfall using its own engine and reach geosynchronous orbit, but with its lifetime shortened to 10.5 years from the originally projected 15-16. Investigation found that the failure was due to burn-through of the engine’s gas generator, and that "the most likely cause of the burn-through was foreign matter or humidity-caused icing in the engine’s liquid-hydrogen injectors".

ChinaSat-9A partial launch failure

On June 19th, 2017, a Long March 3B/E mission carrying ChinaSat-9A ended in partial failure. Officials did not release details regarding the status of the mission for at least 4 hours after liftoff. Two weeks later, on July 7th, officials confirmed that the mission had been anomalous, with Space Daily reporting that "an anomaly was found on the carrier rocket's rolling control thruster, part of the attitude control engine, during the third gliding phase". The failure in the rocket's third stage left the payload in a lower than intended orbit, and the payload was forced to spend two weeks reaching its intended orbit under its own power.