Description:

• The Long March 3C Launch Vehicle is part of the Long March Launcher Family and was delivered to fill a gap in payload capacities between the CZ-3A and 3B launchers. CZ-3C is a three stage liquid fueled rocket with two liquid-fueled strap-on boosters. The Launch Vehicle stands 54.8 meters tall and has a liftoff mass of 345,000 Kilograms. At Liftoff, the Vehicle has a total thrust of 4,898 as it blasts off powered by its Core Stage and twin Boosters. Each Booster is 15.33 meters long and 2.25 meters in diameter. The Booster has an empty mass of 3,200 Kilograms and holds 37,800 Kilograms of propellants at liftoff. Nitrogen Tetroxide is used as Oxidizer and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine as fuel. Each Booster is powered by a single YF-20B Engine providing 816.3 Kilonewtons of thrust. YF-20B has a diameter of 0.84 meters and operates at a chamber pressure of 71bar. The Boosters burn for 128 seconds and provide extra thrust during the initial portion of the flight before separation from the Core Stage.
• The first Stage of CZ-3C is 3.35 meters in diameter, 23.08 meters long and has an empty mass of 9,000 Kilograms. It holds 170,000 Kilograms of Propellants at Liftoff. The stage is powered by four clustered YF-20B engines that also consume Nitrogen Tetroxide and UMDH as propellants. The Core Stage has a vacuum thrust of 3,265 Kilonewtons and burns for 155 seconds. After core stage shutdown and separation, the second stage of the vehicle continues powered flight. The second stage has an inert mass of 5,000Kilograms and a gross weight of 55,000kg. It is powered by a single YF-22 Main Engine and four YF-23 Vernier Thrusters that also consume hypergolic propellants. YF-22 provides a vacuum thrust of 742 Kilonewtons and each YF-23 Vernier has a vacuum thrust of 10.2kN. The second Stage is also 3.35 meters in diameter, but has a length of 10.0 meters. Second Stage Burn time is approximately 190 seconds. Unlike the first and second stage, the third stage of the CZ-3C Launcher is a cryogenic Upper Stage that enables the vehicle to make precise orbital injections.
• The upper stage of the Long March 3C is powered by two YF-75 Engines - each providing 79 Kilonewtons of Thrust. Third Stage propellants are liquid Oxygen and liquid Hydrogen. The Upper Stage has a reduced diameter of three meters and is 12.4 meters long. It has an empty mass of 2,800 Kilograms and holds a total of 18,200 Kilograms of Propellants. The third stage is capable of making multiple engine burns during the flight to target a variety of orbits. The Long March 3C launcher can fly with two different Payload Fairing Versions and it can accommodate four different payload adapters, making it suitable for a variety of payloads. CZ-3C can deliver payloads of up to 3,800 Kilograms into Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit.