Thumb a ride on China's space rockets

Do you want to take a satellite into space? Your satellite could be chosen for a ride on Chinese Long March carrier rocket over the next three years.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALVT), a major manufacturer of the Long March series rockets, has announced it has spare capacity on seven rockets offering launch services for commercial satellites.

The first will be at the end of this year. China's Long March-5, the country's largest carrier rocket, still has a weight vacancy of 100 kg, and can carry payloads to a geostationary transfer orbit with a perigee at 200 km and apogee at 40,000 km.

There will be five chances to get a lift on the Long March-11 and the Long March-2C rockets in 2019, with weight vacancies ranging from 9 kg to 1,000 kg. The rockets can send satellites to a sun-synchronous orbit or low earth orbit.

The academy is also offering a chance to carry payloads of 1,800 kg on its Long March-8 rocket to sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 517 km in 2020.

Previous reports showed that the Long March-8 rocket, still under development, will be reusable with two stages and two boosters. The first stage and boosters are expected to be retrieved through vertical landing.

Commercial satellite customers in China and abroad are welcome to submit applications to CALVT.

China has developed more than 10 types of carrier rockets, and more than 400 have gone into space, including more than 60 commercial satellite launches for over 20 countries. The success rate and the orbit injection accuracy are among the world's highest.