On the evening of February 29, 2024, the Long March-3B Yao-95 carrier rocket carrying the satellite Internet high-orbit satellite 01 was successfully launched from the Xichang launch site, starting the annual space journey of the "high-orbit special train". Next, the "Chang 3B" rocket will be paired with the upper stage to carry out the launch mission.
It is expected that at around 09:50 on May 9, the Long March-3B carrier rocket/Yuanzheng-1 upper stage will be launched from Station 2 of the Xichang launch site, sending the satellite directly into a circular medium-earth orbit (MEO). In the previous missions, the Long March-3B carrier rocket and the upper stage of the Yuanzheng-1 were both Beidou-3 medium-earth orbit satellites launching missions with one rocket and two satellites.
The Beidou-3 medium earth orbit satellite (MEO satellite) is one of the three satellites of the Beidou-3 global satellite navigation system and the main satellite of the Beidou-3 constellation, with 26 satellites deployed in orbit before. At the same time, 58 satellites of the "Beidou" series have been deployed.
M25 and M26 are the latest Beidou-3 medium-earth orbit satellites to be launched. The satellites have been optimized in terms of global short message communication capacity, spaceborne atomic clock technology, and payload intelligence, and their functional performance has been further upgraded. The satellite reduces the mass, enhances the navigation signal power and information rate, and further improves the continuity and stability of uplink injection. At the same time, through the overall implementation of new technology verification in the field of satellite navigation, the design of the next generation of "Beidou" satellites will be laid.
According to the previous plan, the "Beidou-3" medium earth orbit satellite is deployed in three orbital planes of the circular medium earth orbit, with an orbital altitude of 21,528 kilometers and an inclination angle of 55 degrees, and the three orbital planes are each 120 degrees apart, and each orbital plane is deployed with 8 satellites, with an orbital period of about 12 hours, 7 days and 13 circles of return orbit, and the trajectory of the subsatellite point is wavy.
In the previous mission, the "Changsanyi" G3Z rocket was used with the upper stage of the "Expedition 1". The arrow is 57.126 meters long, with a maximum diameter of 3.35 meters in the core stage, equipped with a 4200Z-type fairing, with a diameter of 4.2 meters, and a circular medium earth orbit (MEO) capacity of 21,500 kilometers at an altitude of 2.2 tons when the upper stage of the "Expedition 1" is installed.
This launch will be the 95th launch of the "Chang 3B" rocket, and the 15th time that the "Chang 3B" rocket will carry out the launch mission with the upper stage of the "Yuanzheng 3". At present, the Xichang launch site is the only launch site that can support the launch of the "Changsanjia" series of rockets.
Author: Mulan Xingzhou