The Long March 2C is a member of the Long March Rocket family and was derived from the DF-5 Ballistic Missile.
CZ-2C is a two-stage Rocket standing 39.93 meters tall and it has a diameter of 3.35 meters with a liftoff weight of
about 233,000 Kilograms.
Both Stages of the Long March 2C use Nitrogen Tetroxide and Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine as propellants while an optional third stage in the SMA version of the launcher uses solid propellant. The first stage of the stack is 25.72 meters long and 3.35 meters in diameter with a launch mass of 171,300 Kilograms that includes 162,700 Kilograms of propellants. The first stage of the vehicle is powered by a YF-21B Rocket Engine which consists of a cluster of four YF-20A Engines each providing 750 Kilonewtons of Vacuum Thrust. Liftoff thrust of the CZ-2C is 2,689 Kilonewtons. First stage burn time is 122 seconds.
The second stage of the launcher is 7.58 meters in length and has the typical 3.35-meter diameter. It has a liftoff mass of 58,000kg holding 54,700kg of propellants. 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 has a burn time of 130 seconds for the main engine and 287 for the verniers.
The SMA Upper Stage is 2.7 meters in diameter and 1.5 meters long. It burns 150 Kilograms of HTPB propellant to provide a thrust of 10.78 Kilonewtons.
In its standard two stage version, the CZ-2C can carry payloads of 3,850kg to Low Earth Orbit and it has a Sun-Synchronous Capability of 1,400kg. With the optional third stage, the capability to SSO is increased to 1,900kg.
This launch marked the 171st successful Chinese Orbital Launch and the 171st launch of a Long March Rocket. It was China’s 16th successful orbital launch of 2012.
