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
China's expanding ties with the Global South have pushed trade growth far beyond the global average despite the tariff pressure from the U.S., according to experts.
"Whilst the Trump tariffs ultimately led to a significant drop-off in Chinese exports to the United States and vice versa, the trading relationships across much of the rest of the world continue to grow, and China's trading relationships across the Belt and Road Initiative countries, as well as with the Global South, more broadly speaking, has grown at rates far greater than global trade growth as a whole. And we see that evidenced by the latest data. When we break that down, we see that has been underpinned by the developments in high-technology products in particular, whether it's EVs, whether it's even in semiconductors, as well as photovoltaic panels, etc.," said Dr. Warwick Powell, an adjunct professor at the Queensland University of Technology, in a TV interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on Thursday.
"And you've got to look at the places where the growth is taking place. Africa, I think, is a very interesting case in point, because the kinds of things that China has been exporting and expanding in terms of its exports are all about African economic development -- its machinery, its energy systems, its technology, and this really goes to delivering on China's broader strategic ambition as an emerging great power to be an enabling great power, supporting the development of its partners around the world," he added.
Qian Jun, executive dean of International School of Finance at Fudan University, attributed the trade growth to Chinese firms' endeavor to tap into key regions like ASEAN, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.
"The main increase of export comes from, as we have discussed, these new areas: The ASEAN economy -- southeast Asia remains the most important trading partner -- and also Latin America, the Middle East, and these [other such] new regions. So, the exporters of the Chinese companies are also very good at adjusting their destinies, their strategies, how to market their goods and services, so that the reliance on the U.S., for example, has gone down a lot," Qian said.
China's trade momentum increasingly powered by Global South: experts
