Triple Long March launches mark record day for Chinese space program

by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 11, 2025

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC) has achieved three orbital launches with Long March rockets in a single day, setting a new mark for the country's spaceflight cadence.

The first mission lifted off at 6:11 am from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province, where a Long March 6A deployed a batch of internet satellites into orbit.

Built by the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), a CASC subsidiary in Beijing, the satellites expand a State-managed broadband constellation that already had more than 110 spacecraft in orbit before this launch.

The Long March 6A, a medium-lift vehicle developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST), uses a 50-meter liquid-fueled core stage with four solid-propellant strap-on boosters, giving a liftoff mass of about 530 metric tons.

This configuration allows Long March 6A to place satellites into a range of orbits, including sun-synchronous, low Earth, and intermediate circular trajectories, supporting different mission profiles with a single rocket family.

Around five and a half hours later, a Long March 4B launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, carrying the Yaogan 47 satellite.

Yaogan 47, also developed by CAST, is intended for land resource surveys, urban mapping, agricultural yield monitoring, and tasks related to environmental protection, disaster prevention, and disaster mitigation.

The Long March 4B, another SAST design, can deliver multiple spacecraft with a combined mass of up to 2.5 tons into a typical sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 700 kilometers.

The day's third mission occurred at 11:08 pm, when a Long March 3B lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province and placed the experimental Communication Technology Demonstrator 22 satellite into orbit.

Communication Technology Demonstrator 22, also produced by SAST, will provide communications and data relay services, distribute radio and television programs, and support in-orbit technology demonstrations.

The Long March 3B, developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, is one of China's most frequently flown launchers and is primarily used to send satellites to geostationary transfer orbit with payloads of up to 5.5 tons, while also supporting missions to medium Earth orbit and lunar transfer orbit.

Pang Zhihao, a spaceflight technology specialist and veteran space writer, said that conducting three launches in one day demands extensive operational experience and tight coordination across the national space infrastructure.

"Launching a rocket involves far more than the rocket and its service tower," Pang said. "It requires support facilities and personnel across the country, including tracking and telemetry stations and satellite control centers. Mission planners must make detailed and careful arrangements to coordinate infrastructure and specialized teams."