China launches latest Long March rocket with broadband “test satellites”.

China successfully launched its newest rocket on Saturday, taking another step toward stronger launch capabilities and a manned lunar landing before 2030.

The 62-meter-tall, 3.8-meter-wide Long March 12 lifted off from Wenchang Cosmodrome on southern China’s Hainan Island at 10:25 p.m. Beijing time, sending two “technology test satellites” into orbit, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). , the country’s most important space company.

CASC did not provide further details about the satellites.

The two-stage rocket, powered by burning kerosene and liquid oxygen, is the furthest rocket launched by China so far, said Wu Jialin, an engineer at CASC’s Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, which developed the spacecraft.

Most Chinese rockets have a diameter of 3.35 meters, Wu said at a local press conference shortly after the successful launch was announced. “A wider body means the rocket can hold about 30 percent more fuel, giving it a significantly higher carrying capacity,” he said.

Long March 12 can carry about 12 tons of payload to low-Earth orbit and over 6 tons to a so-called sun-synchronous orbit, Wu said. It will complement existing missiles to help China build its broadband “megaconstellations.”

The planned mega-constellations, called Qianfan and Guowang, aim to launch more than 13,000 satellites each to provide internet service to remote areas and compete with SpaceX’s Starlink in the international market.