China's Long March 5 family of rockets. Credit: Jirka Dlouhy
The Xinhua news agency reports on China’s rocket progress:
Production on a major part of China’s Long March-5 large-thrust carrier rocket has been completed and its maiden voyage is expected to take place during the country’s 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), according to its producer.
The Long March-5 rocket is scheduled to be put into service in 2014,Liang Xiaohong, deputy head of the CASC-affiliated China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology which designs and produces the rocket, has said during previous interviews.
With a maximum low Earth-orbit payload capacity of 25 tonnes and high Earth-orbit payload capacity of 14 tonnes, Long March V rockets will be among the world’s leaders in payload capacity and reliability, Liang said, adding that the 25-tonne maximum capacity is 2.5 times that of in-service Long March rockets.
The production of a core cabin for China’s manned space station and large satellites will also begin during the 2011-2015 period, Ma said.
