At 11:19 on November 6, 2020, the Long March 6 launch vehicle (CZ-6) was launched at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and successfully sent 10 Argentine NewSat satellites, Tianyan 05 satellite, BUAA Kongshi Satellite 1, and “Taiyuan” science popularization satellite (Bayi 03) into the preset orbit.

The Long March-6 launch vehicle (CZ-6) is a cryogenic liquid three-stage launch vehicle developed by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), capable of launching different types of satellites with different orbit requirement and launching one or more satellites at the same time. Its carrying capacity in the sun-synchronous circular orbit can reach up to 1.0 tons (at an orbit altitude of 700 km).

The main satellites in this mission are the NewSat satellites developed by Satellogic of Argentina. It is the first time that China’s new-generation launch vehicle has undertaken an international commercial full-stage satellite launch mission, and it is also the first time that Satellogic has purchased the full-stage launch service. Therefore, the mission is of great significance for the Long March series of launch vehicles to enter the international market and for Satellogic’s future development. This time, CZ-6 was selected by Satellogic for multi-satellite full-stage launch service exactly because of the high reliability and good reputation of China’s Long March series of launch vehicles as well as the excellent service and technical solutions provided by the model team. Prior to this, CZ-4 series of launch vehicles and CZ-2D launch vehicle developed by SAST had been launched four times, successfully sending seven Satellogic’s NewSat satellites into their preset orbits.

The highlight of this mission is the separation of 13 satellites from the rocket.To this end, the model team organized elite members to carry out multiple rounds of safety simulation and analysis for multi-satellite separation, and optimized the design in terms of satellite layout, separation scheme, trajectory design, and selection of separation spring to ensure the safety of multi-satellite separation and meet the requirements of satellite separation attitude. In response to the separation of multiple satellites, SAST also organized the heads of various model teams for independent evaluations and reconfirmation to ensure that no risk will occur during the mission.

In this mission, the quality assurance system was applied to CZ-6 for the first time at the base. Based on the characteristics ofCZ-6 such as test launch under “three level conditions” and unsupported launch, a quality assurance program with its own characteristics was established and implemented in a tabular form in each step of work, thus promoting the transformation of quality management from ex-post summary to advance planning and process control.

CZ-6 completed its maiden launch in 2015. The frequency of its launch mission has increased from once every two years initially to once a year this year, and will increase to multiple launches a year in the future, posing higher requirements on the model team.

This mission is the 351^st launch of the Long March series of launch vehicles, the 125^th flight test of the Long March series of launch vehicles developed under the leadership of SAST, and the 4^th launch of CZ-6.