China has delayed the introduction of a new rocket intended to bring its space launch capacity up to international standards.
The Long March 5 carrier rocket will not come into use until 2014, an official announced on Sunday.
New launch vehicle hoped to compete with Europe, Russia and the US
vnunet.com, 04 Mar 2008
China has delayed the introduction of a new rocket intended to bring its space launch capacity up to international standards.
The Long March 5 carrier rocket will not come into use until 2014, an official announced on Sunday.
The start date is at least two years later than that given in earlier announcements, but no explanation has been given for the delay.
Long March 5 will carry satellites and manned space vehicles weighing 25 tonnes into low Earth orbit, more than twice the 9.2 tonnes of China's existing rockets.
The planned capacity matches the most commonly used medium-capacity launch vehicles of the US, Europe and Russia.
For example, the European Ariane 5, which began operating in 2002, has a maximum capacity of approximately 21 tonnes, and the US Space Shuttle has a capacity of around 25 tonnes.
However, the most powerful rocket successfully launched, the US Saturn V lunar launch vehicle, had a maximum capacity of well over 100 tonnes to low Earth orbit.
Liang Xiaohong, vice president of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said that the new Long March rocket is being developed in the industrial city of Tianjin.
However, reports said that work on the first phase of the rocket construction facility only began in October 2007 and is expected to take two years.
The rocket will be launched from a new base on the tropical island of Hainan, which is expected to be ready in 2012.
China has long-term plans for a manned lunar landing.
Plans to reach the Moon in 2020
Rocket scientists opt for 'China's Hawaii'

Remote access - Three steps to getting connected
3.4 million UK professionals now work from home – is your company equipped?

Cost benefits of a global collaboration network
This white paper is a must read for organisations looking for evidence of the bottom-line benefits of high-definition video and voice communications
Keep up to date with the latest products, services and technologies from the world's leading IT companies; IThound.com brings you over 6,000 white papers, case studies and analyst reports.

Join our live chat session on Thursday at 11am to...

Researchers from security firm FireEye have been able to effectively...
Do you agree?
Have your say on this article