Before the Long March 9 was built, the Long March 5 rocket, known as the " Fat Five ", was the largest launch vehicle in my country. However, some friends seem to have controversy about its "international status", and think that Long March 5 is not worthy of the title " heavy rocket ". Only the United States "Falcon Heavy" is the heavy one. Is the statement
correct? Today we will talk about the heavy rockets.
Long March 5 Heavy Rocket
If you open Wikipedia and enter the entry " Heavy Launch Vehicle ", you will find that the four listed are: the United States' "Deltas IV Heavy (also known as "Delta 4" or Delta 9250H), China's "Long March 5", Europe's "Ariane 5" and Russia's " Proton-M".
Is "Falcon Heavy" not considered a heavy rocket? Not counting.
The definition of "heavy launch vehicle" is to be able to send a payload of 20 to 50 tons to low-Earth orbit. "Falcon Heavy" uses two Falcon first-stage rockets as boosters. It is said that it can launch objects of 38 to 63.8 tons into the sky, but it has never launched a 20 tons of thing. Since its maximum launch capability is unproven and not considered a heavy rocket, the Falcon was eliminated first.
"Falcon Heavy" has never launched something too heavy
Aerospace power India also has a " big rocket " - GSLV Mk.3 (also known as LVM3). People who have seen it launch often exclaim: "India's spacecraft is so strong! This big rocket looks no different from the Long March 5."
All knows whether aerospace is strong or not, but the level of Indian photographers is still worthy of praise. They can shoot LVM3 extremely majestic. Our photographers are very good at using fish-eye lens . In their eyes, aircraft carrier always looks like a fishing boat.
But if you compare LVM3 with Long March 5, you can easily see that it is just a "brother":
India's "heavy rocket" is just a younger brother
India's rocket looks solid, but its ability is only equivalent to Long March 7 , so it is not a heavy rocket.
In fact, from the appearance, LVM3 is more like a smaller version of the European heavy rocket "Ariana 5". Both use the solid rocket as a booster, but the first stage of the Ariana 5 uses the powerful "Vulcan 2" hydrogen and oxygen rocket engine. India cannot create a decent liquid rocket engine , and can only use solid rockets to force it. The advantage of
solid rocket is that its structure is relatively simple, cheap and has high thrust. Including the US Atlas 5, space shuttle and the unlaunched "lunar rocket" SLS, all use solid rockets to make first-stage or first-stage boosts. The disadvantages of solid rockets are also obvious. They are uncontrollable - the ignition is disposable, and the fuel will be shut down only after it burns out, and precise orbital control cannot be performed. In addition, the internal pressure of the solid rocket is strong and requires a high-strength steel shell, which increases the Rocket's self-weight.
solid rocket booster also has its disadvantages
Ariane 5 rocket's "ES" model of low-Earth orbit launch capacity is about 21 tons. In the past decade, it has sent the 20-ton Kepler Space Telescope and three "European cargo spacecraft" to low-Earth orbit, and has launched about 10 tons of communication satellite to geosynchronous orbit dozens of times. The extremely high success rate has proved its extraordinary ability.
The US "Delta IV" heavy rocket can theoretically send a payload weighing 28.79 tons into low-Earth orbit and launch a 14.2 tons satellite into geosynchronous orbit. It is the strongest among the "Four King Kongs". Although most of the 14 launches were "secret missions", at the end of 2014 it pushed the 21-ton Orion test aircraft into a large elliptical orbit with an altitude of 5,800 kilometers, which is enough to prove its ability.
Russia's "Proton-M" rocket originated from the "Proton" of the former Soviet Union. Judging from its appearance, it seems to have bundled 6 boosters. In fact, it is the dimethylhydrazine engine of 6 first-stage rockets, so its "diameter" is very large.The Proton-M can launch a spacecraft of up to 23 tons into the sky, and the GTO's carrying capacity is 6.9 tons, slightly inferior to several other heavy rockets.
heavy rocket "Four Kings"
Long March 5 rocket has a diameter of 5 meters and is mainly used for heavy launch missions such as deep space exploration. The Long March 5B rocket designed for the construction of space station is shorter. It is a "one-stage and a half" rocket with a total height of 53.66 meters, but it can easily send the Tianhe core compartment, Wentian Experimental Column and Mengtian Experimental Column , which weighs about 23 tons, to a low-Earth orbit 400 kilometers above the ground. In terms of carrying capacity, it is currently the second only to the "Delta IV".
Long March 5B ranking heavy rockets world second
Although the low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of "Falcon Heavy" far exceeds 20 tons, the maximum low-Earth orbit payload of the "full thrust" version of Falcon 9 is said to have reached 22 tons, but neither of these rockets have actually launched such a heavy load into the sky, so paper data is not recognized, and they are not a heavy launch vehicle for the time being.
Judging from the actual launch load indicators, China's Long March 5B rocket ranks second. After successfully launching the "Dream Sky" experimental cabin of Tiangong Space Station , the Long March 5B will also launch the "Sky Survey" space telescope at the end of 2023 and may be retired after completing the first phase of construction mission. In the future, we will usher in the greater and more advanced Long March 9 launch vehicle .
China Aerospace , worth looking forward to!
#Mengtian Experimental Cabin was launched at an airport recently # #Long March 5 B is waiting to go to the expedition#
