10:35 am January 17, 2022

The Long March 2 Dingyao 70 carrier rocket ignited and blasted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and successfully placed the Shiyan 13 satellite in its preset orbit. The complete success of the launch mission officially kicked off China’s space launch for the year.

The launch mission was completed by the Long March 2D carrier rocket developed by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. It is a two-stage carrier rocket powered by liquid fuel under normal temperature, has a liftoff weight of 300 metric tons, corresponding to a carrying capacity of 1.2 tons to a typical sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers, and is capable of transporting single, multiple satellites to different orbits.

In this mission, a 2 m long wrapping adapter was used for the first time on the Long March 2D carrier rocket, which further expanded the carrier rocket’s satellite-rocket connector types. At present, the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center is experiencing an extremely cold weather near minus 30 ℃, which has put great stress on the testing and launch mission. To protect the rocket against the low temperature, the experiment team worked closely with the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and carried multiple measures to guarantee the tests and launch environment meeting the requirements. 

In 2022, the Long March 2D is facing a new normal of operating in multiple sites, under the dual challenges of ultra-high launch frequency and high development density. Therefore, advance planning of the Long March 2D has been formulated to guarantee the orderly conduction of model development and launch in range; carry out strict technology status control, promote de-tasking measures, improve the flexibility of development and manufacturing and the response speed to the task; optimize the test and launch process, implement the quality confirmation system of “daily clearance”, and effectively support the quality control of rocket launching site.  In the new journey, the Long March 2D will directly face the challenge, be courageous to undertake responsibilities, strengthen implementation, continue to struggle, and lay a solid foundation for achieving the complete victories of all launch missions in 2022.

The Shiyan 13 satellite launched this time is developed by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites of Chinese Academy of Sciences, mainly used for space environment exploration and relevant technical tests.

This is the 58^th launch of the Long March 2D, the 151th launch of Long March carrier rockets developed by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, and also the 406^th launch of the Long March rockets.