CZ-11 maiden flight (25th Sep)

[xenomorph555]

It's time for China to fly the new Long March 11, a rather mysterious solid fueled SLV for emergency payloads.

It fly from Taiyuan like CZ-6 and carry 4 small satellites.

And heres the first ever public image of it;

tube launched

Hopefully this is also successful!

[RainDreamer]

Tube launch? O-o that is...very interesting. What are the pro/cons of launching that way?

[xenomorph555]

It guess it's to protect it from the elements, also allows it to be road mobile.

Being an emergency launch system, it would probably be stored in a warehouse for years before being quickly dispatched.

[sgt_flyer]

Guess it's because it can be used fastly without needing a huge infrastructure (and from almost any point of their territory), for example, if the launch pad normally used for classic rockets is damaged or undergoing revamps, and they need an immediate launch (guess more for military reasons - spy sats or military commsats - were they would need immediate actions - roll out and erect the launcher anywhere. Chinese already tested some ASAT weapons, and other countries have some.

In case of war, communications would be among the primary targets - followed by destroying means of reestablishing communications (in case of satellites, rocket launch pads are among those means) so mobile launch pads would be much harder to get to than known fixed facilities also, as those launchers use solid fuels, mean that they don't need to be fuelled.

(For US, the equivalent could be the various air launched rocket projects

[Streetwind]

What kind of payloads would be considered "emergency payloads"? O_o

I'm not aware of any other country having a launcher dedicated to this task.

EDIT: sniped by sarge.

[Kryten]

What kind of payloads would be considered "emergency payloads"? O_o

I'm not aware of any other country having a launcher dedicated to this task.

EDIT: sniped by sarge.

China already has an operational quick-response launcher, Kuaizhou. It's payloads (also called Kuaizhou) so far have been optical EO sats, and it's apparently intended to be launched to provide extra coverage in the event of natural disasters. This has been demonstrated by the first Kuaizhou, which adjusted it's orbit for better coverage of the 2013 Pakistan earthquake. This could obviously have military applications as well, as intended for similar US projects like SWORDS and ALASA, but the military didn't bite, and all Kuaizhou launches have been made on behalf of the civilian earth observation ministry.

[Streetwind]

Interesting, thanks for the info!

[magnemoe]

What kind of payloads would be considered "emergency payloads"? O_o

I'm not aware of any other country having a launcher dedicated to this task.

EDIT: sniped by sarge.

Many do, US has some minuteman silos dedicated for it, guess Russia has multiple, their benefit is larger ICBM.

Main use is to launch military communication and recon satellites if other are taken out.

Know Russia have also used some submarine ICBM for satellite launches but an mobile launcher is new to me.

[xenomorph555]

The launch was successful!

(Early morning GMT). Here are some pictures;

this is great news.

Edited September 26, 2015 by xenomorph555

[fredinno]

Wait, a Chinese launch happened in UK?

[SciMan]

@Xenomorph555, those 4 or so images in your last post don't show up on my screen.

Looking at the image links themselves, they don't appear to actually point to an actual file. Instead, they have some kind of hash (like the end of a YouTube or Imgur link).

Whatever the case, something in those links isn't able to be processed by the forums.

Edited September 26, 2015 by SciMan

[AngelLestat]

that is the ugliest rocket that I ever see..

[RainDreamer]

Wait, a Chinese launch happened in UK?

I think it means in UK morning?

[fredinno]

that is the ugliest rocket that I ever see..

That's not true. You just can't see any of it, where it's true beauty lies.

[CalculusWarrior]

Wait, a Chinese launch happened in UK?

I believe xenomorph lives in the UK and it launched early in the morning for them. I assume that the launch took place in China

[xenomorph555]

I believe xenomorph lives in the UK and it launched early in the morning for them. I assume that the launch took place in China

Yes haha, I'll reword my post.

[Armchair Rocket Scientist]

What kind of payloads would be considered "emergency payloads"? O_o

I'm not aware of any other country having a launcher dedicated to this task.

EDIT: sniped by sarge.

China might be the only one with an operational launcher of this type, but a bunch of countries have been working on developing them:

http://seradata.com/SSI/2013/09/small-and-sweet-nasa-wants-a-dedicated-launch-vehicle-for-cubesats/

[TrainEngie]

Is the tube launcher a train carriage, truck trailer, or converted ICBM launcher?

[xenomorph555]

Is the tube launcher a train carriage, truck trailer, or converted ICBM launcher?

Same type as an ICBM truck, but custom built instead of converted.