The Long March 3A (), also known as the Chang Zheng 3A, CZ-3A and LM-3A, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket, part of the Long March family of expendable rockets. A three-stage rocket, it was usually used to place communications satellites and Beidou navigation satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbit. It was manufactured by the Great Wall Industry Corporation.

History and specifications The Long March 3A is the first variant of the Long March 3. The first stage was lengthened from to , and the third stage was enlarged and redesigned to accommodate two YF-75 rocket engines, whereas its predecessor had a single YF-73; this gave it the capability to lift into geosynchronous orbit, compared to the Long March 3's . A new computer system was also installed.

The first and second stages used hypergolic propellants (unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide), while the third used cryogenic fuel (liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen).

Its achievements include powering the first two BeiDou navigation satellites into orbit (Beidou 1A on 30 October 2000 and Beidou 1B on 20 December), as well as China's first Moon probe, Chang'e 1, into lunar orbit in 2007.

It formed the basis of the Long March 3B, which by adding four strap-on booster rockets increased the lifting capacity to .

Launch statistics

Launches

Long March 3A rockets were launched from Launch Areas 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC).

Flight number Serial number Date (UTC) Launch site Payload Orbit Result1Y18 February 199408:34LA-2, XSLCShijian 4HEO2Y229 November 199417:02LA-2, XSLCDong Fang Hong 3GTO3Y311 May 199716:17LA-2, XSLCChinaSat 6GTO4Y425 January 200016:45LA-2, XSLCChinaSat 22GTO5Y530 October 200016:02LA-2, XSLCBeidou-1AGTO6Y620 December 200016:20LA-2, XSLCBeidou-1BGTO7Y724 May 200316:34LA-2, XSLCBeidou-1CGTO8Y814 November 200316:01LA-2, XSLCChinaSat 20GTO9Y919 October 200401:20LA-2, XSLCFengyun 2CGTO10Y1012 September 200616:02LA-2, XSLCChinaSat 22AGTO11Y118 December 200600:53LA-2, XSLCFengyun 2DGTO12Y122 February 200716:28LA-2, XSLCBeidou-1DGTO13Y1313 April 200720:11LA-3, XSLCCompass-M1MEO14Y1531 May 200716:08LA-3, XSLCSinoSat 3GTO15Y1424 October 200710:05LA-3, XSLCChang'e 1LTO16Y2023 December 200800:54LA-3, XSLCFengyun 2EGTO17Y1631 July 201021:30LA-3, XSLCCompass-IGSO1GTO18Y2124 November 201016:09LA-3, XSLCChinaSat 20AGTO19Y1817 December 201020:20LA-3, XSLCCompass-IGSO2GTO20Y199 April 201120:47LA-3, XSLCCompass-IGSO3GTO21Y1726 July 201121:44LA-3, XSLCCompass-IGSO4GTO22Y231 December 201121:07LA-3, XSLCCompass-IGSO5GTO23Y2213 January 201200:56LA-3, XSLCFengyun 2FGTO24Y2431 December 201401:02LA-2, XSLCFengyun 2GGTO25Y2629 March 201620:11LA-2, XSLCCompass-IGSO6GTO26Y255 June 201813:07LA-2, XSLCFengyun 2HGTO27Y279 July 201820:58LA-2, XSLCCompass-IGSO7GTO

See also List of Long March launches

References

External links LM-3A User's Manual (downloadable)