Long March 3A Explained

Function:

Carrier rocket

Manufacturer:

CALT

Country-Origin:

China

Status:

Active

Sites:

LA-2 & LA-3, XSLC

Height:

52.52m (172.31feet)^[1]

Diameter:

3.35m (10.99feet)

Mass:

241000kg (531,000lb)

Stages:

Launches:

Success:

First:

8 February 1994

Capacities:

Location:	LEO
Kilos:	8500kg (18,700lb)^[2] ^[3]

Location:	GTO
Kilos:	2600kg (5,700lb)^[4]

Location:	HCO
Kilos:	1600kg (3,500lb)

Family:

Long March

Derivatives:

Long March 3B
Long March 3C

Stagedata:

Type:	stage
Stageno:	First

Length:	23.272 m
Diameter:	3.35 m
Propmass:	171800kg (378,800lb)
Thrust:	2961.6kN
Burntime:	148 s
Si:	2556.5m/s

Type:	stage
Stageno:	Second

Length:	11.276 m
Diameter:	3.35 m
Propmass:	32600kg (71,900lb)
Engines:	1 YF-24E (1 x YF-22E (Main)) (4 x YF-23C (Vernier))
Thrust:	742kN (Main) 47.1kN (Vernier)
Burntime:	115 s
Si:	2922.57m/s (Main) 2910.5m/s (Vernier)

Type:	stage
Stageno:	Third

Length:	12.375 m
Diameter:	3.0 m
Propmass:	18200kg (40,100lb)
Engines:	2 YF-75^[5]
Thrust:	167.17kN
Burntime:	475 s
Si:	4295m/s

Last:

9 July 2018

The Long March 3A, also known as the Chang Zheng 3A, CZ-3A and LM-3A, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. It is a 3-stage rocket, and is usually used to place communications satellites and Beidou navigation satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits.

It has formed the basis of the Long March 3B, which is a heavier version with four liquid booster rockets.

Launches

Long March 3A rockets have been launched from Launch Areas 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

List of launches

See main article: List of Long March launches.

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Flight number	Serial number	Date (UTC)	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Result
1	Y1	February 8, 1994 08:34	LA-2, XSLC	Shijian 4	HEO
2	Y2	November 29, 1994 17:02	LA-2, XSLC	Dong Fang Hong 3	GTO
3	Y3	May 11, 1997 16:17	LA-2, XSLC	ChinaSat 6	GTO
4	Y4	January 25, 2000 16:45	LA-2, XSLC	ChinaSat 22	GTO
5	Y5	October 30, 2000 16:02	LA-2, XSLC	Beidou-1A	GTO
6	Y6	December 20, 2000 16:20	LA-2, XSLC	Beidou-1B	GTO
7	Y7	May 24, 2003 16:34	LA-2, XSLC	Beidou-1C	GTO
8	Y8	November 14, 2003 16:01	LA-2, XSLC	ChinaSat 20	GTO
9	Y9	October 19, 2004 01:20	LA-2, XSLC	Fengyun 2C	GTO
10	Y10	September 12, 2006 16:02	LA-2, XSLC	ChinaSat 22A	GTO
11	Y11	December 8, 2006 00:53	LA-2, XSLC	Fengyun 2D	GTO
12	Y12	February 2, 2007 16:28	LA-2, XSLC	Beidou-1D	GTO
13	Y13	April 13, 2007 20:11	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-M1	MEO
14	Y15	May 31, 2007 16:08	LA-3, XSLC	SinoSat 3	GTO
15	Y14	October 24, 2007 10:05	LA-3, XSLC	Chang'e 1	LTO
16	Y20	December 23, 2008 00:54	LA-3, XSLC	Fengyun 2E	GTO
17	Y16	July 31, 2010 21:30	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO1	GTO
18	Y21	November 24, 2010 16:09	LA-3, XSLC	ChinaSat 20A	GTO
19	Y18	December 17, 2010 20:20	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO2	GTO
20	Y19	April 9, 2011 20:47	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO3	GTO
21	Y17	July 26, 2011 21:44	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO4	GTO
22	Y23	December 1, 2011 21:07	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO5	GTO
23	Y22	January 13, 2012 00:56	LA-3, XSLC	Fengyun 2F	GTO
24	Y24	December 31, 2014 01:02	LA-2, XSLC	Fengyun 2G	GTO
25	Y26	March 29, 2016 20:11	LA-2, XSLC	Compass-IGSO6	GTO
26	Y25	June 5, 2018 13:07	LA-2, XSLC	Fengyun 2H	GTO
27	Y27	July 9, 2018 20:58	LA-2, XSLC	Compass-IGSO7	GTO

Technical data

LM-3A is a 3-stage launch vehicle developed on the basis of LM-3 and LM-2C. Its third stage is powered by cryogenic propellants: liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It is dedicated for launching spacecraft into GTO. Its launch capability for GTO mission is 2,600 kg. The fairing static envelope is 3m in diameter.

Notes and References

Web site: CZ-3A . Mark Wade . . 2010-05-25 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090611001414/http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/cz.htm . 2009-06-11 .
Web site: LM-3A Series Launch Vehicle User's Manual - Issue 2011. China Great Wall Industries Corporation. 2015-08-09. 2016-12-20. https://web.archive.org/web/20161220124025/http://www.cgwic.com/LaunchServices/Download/manual/LM-3A%20Series%20Launch%20Vehicles%20User%27s%20Manual%20Issue%202011.pdf. dead.
Web site: CZ-3A (Chang Zheng-3A). Gunter Krebs. Gunter's Space Page. 2008-04-27.
Web site: LM-3A. China Great Wall Industry Corporation. 2010-05-25.
Web site: Long March 3C/E - Rockets. Spaceflight101.com. 2016-11-25.