It is expected that at noon on December 26, 2023, the Long March-3B and Yuanzheng-1 upper stage carrier rocket carrying the Beidou-3 medium earth orbit satellite will be launched from the Xichang launch site to send the satellite directly into the middle earth orbit (MEO).
Beidou-3 satellite, from left: IGSO, MEO, and GEO.
The Beidou-3 Medium Earth Orbit Satellite (MEO Satellite) is one of the 3 satellites of the Beidou-3 satellite navigation system. These satellites are used to provide three services: the basic satellite radio navigation service (RNSS), global short messages and international search and rescue, with a single satellite transmitting mass of 1060 kg, a whole satellite power of 3100 watts, and a design life of more than 10 years. At present, there are 24 satellites in orbit in orbit of the Beidou-3.
Chang 3B "Yao 67" "Yuanzheng 1" Yao 15 carrier rocket.
This mission uses the "Changsanyi" G3Z rocket, which uses a 4200Z fairing, uses a 1194A satellite bracket, and installs an attitude control engine and an attitude control tank. The arrow is 57 in length126 meters, the maximum diameter of the core stage is 335 meters, fairing diameter 42 meters, and its standard geosynchronous transfer orbit (GTO) capacity is 52 tons ;In the state of installing the upper stage of "Expedition-1", the capacity of the medium earth orbit (MEO) at an altitude of 21,500 kilometers is 22 tons ;
Chang 3B "Yao 52" "Yuanzheng 1" Yao 11 carrier rocket.
When the Chang-3B rocket cooperates with the upper stage of the "Yuanzheng-1" to carry out the "Beidou-3" medium-circle earth orbit satellite double satellite launch mission, the upper stage directly puts the satellite into the initial orbit, and then the satellite enters the target earth orbit through autonomous orbital phase capture.
This launch will be the sixth launch of the "Changsanyi" rocket this year, and it is also the 93rd launch of the "Changsanyi" rocket in total. At the same time, this launch will also be China's first medium-Earth orbit launch mission of the year.
Author: Mulan Xingzhou.