CZ-12A (Chang Zheng-12A)

Description:

CZ-12A

The Long March 12A (Chang Zheng 12A, abbreviated LM-12A or CZ-12A), is a Chinese reusable medium-lift launch vehicle carrier rocket. The rocket has two stages and its first stage is designed to be reused after stage-recovery via propulsive landing. Both stages of the rocket will use methane (CH4) and liquid oxygen (LOX) for propulsion. The rocket is manufactured by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST). The first flight occurred on 23 December 2025 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center with a successful orbital launch but the first-stage recovery was unsuccessful. The CZ-12A rocket is designed in two stages with a diameter of 3.8 m: the first stage is driven by seven Longyun-70 engines engines that use Methane and liquid oxygen. It is fitted with four deployable landing legs for a powered landing. The second stage is powered by YF-209V engines that also use Methane and liquid oxygen. The rocket has two payload fairing options, one with a diameter of 5.2 meters and the other with a diameter of 4.2 m.

Technical Data:

Characteristitcs:

• The project that eventually led to the current CZ-12A was initiated in 2021 under the codename "XLV21"; reusability was part of the original goals of the project although the initial design of the future rocket was more ambitious than the current Long March 12A (the future CZ-12B may meet the original project goals).
• First stage:
  The Long March 12A's first stage hull is composed of 2219 aluminum alloy, a legacy from the standard Long March 12's first stage hull. However, unlike the CZ-12, the "A" variant employs CH4 and LOX for propulsion, and in a first for the Long March series of rockets, the CZ-12A's first-stage features seven units of the Longyun-70 reusable rocket engine, developed by the private company "Jiuzhou Yunjian"; the engines provide the rocket with a total of about 5,215 kilo-Newtons of thrust at liftoff. The first stage mounts four "T-tail" fins near the bottom to provide for flight stability and also includes four aluminum alloy landing legs each with a length of approximately 5.7 metres.
• Inter-stage:
  The rocket inter-stage includes four segmented 3D-printed fins and four single-drag element automatic control systems.
• Second stage:
  The second stage of the rocket features a single unit of the YF-209V reusable methane/LOX engine. The stage's hull is built using 2195 aluminum alloy. The stage also features two automatic flight control units.
• Rocket fairing:
  There are two possible fairing types for payload enclosure: one type with a diameter of 4.2 metres and a second type with a diameter of 5.2 metres.
• Overall characteristics
  At liftoff, the rocker has a mass of about 437 tonnes and a liftoff thrust of approxiately 5,215 Newtons, Its height is about 69-70 metres. When the first-stage is set on a return-landing trajectory, the CZ-12A's LEO payload capacity is no less than 6 tonnes; its 500 km sun-synchronous orbit payload capacity is no less than 3 tonnes. The rocket's LEO payload capacity is no less than 9 tonnes when the first-stage is used in an expendable mode.

Launch List:

External links:

• Skyrocket: Rocket Information
• Wikipedia: Long March 12A