The test and launch process for China's Long March 2F rocket has been optimized, with the time span shortened from 37 to 30 days, according to the development team.
According to the requirements of the space station mission, the Long March 2F rocket has been executing a rolling backup mode of 'launching one, backing up one' since the Shenzhou-12 mission, meaning one rocket will go through two stages, first as the standby rocket for emergency rescue and second as the mission rocket for normal launch.
"In the previous test and launch process, the standby rocket and the mission rocket would each undergo an electrical system test in their respective stages. So for one rocket, it needed to have two rounds of electrical system tests. After the optimization of the test and launch process, in order to improve the efficiency, we have shortened the test process of the standby rocket. So generally speaking, the total test and launch process has been cut down from 37 days to 30 days," said Chen Muye, a staff member at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
According to the development team, the optimization is achieved based on practices established since the construction of the space station and a continuous striving for higher efficiency and reliability. At present, the next Long March 2F rocket to be launched is on standby in the factory.
"Behind us is the Yao-20 rocket, which is the same as our Yao-19 rocket that after completing the installation of the rocket body, the installation of instruments and pyrotechnics, it can be on duty for emergency rescue and it no longer needs to undergo an electrical system test in the standby state," Chen said.
A Long March 2F carrier rocket, topped with the Shenzhou-19 spacecraft, now sits on its pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, ready to send it to the Tiangong space station early on Wednesday.
Test, launch of Long March 2F rocket optimized for higher efficiency
