Long March 3A

	Schematic of Long March 3A
Function	Carrier rocket
Manufacturer	CALT
Country of origin	China
Cost per launch	US$70 million [1]
Size
Height	52.52 metres (172.3 ft)
Diameter	3.35 metres (11.0 ft)
Mass	241,000 kilograms (531,000 lb)
Stages	3
Capacity
Payload to LEO
Mass	8,500 kilograms (18,700 lb)
Payload to GTO
Mass	2,600 kilograms (5,700 lb)
Payload to HCO
Mass	1,600 kilograms (3,500 lb)
Associated rockets
Family	Long March
Derivative work	Long March 3B; Long March 3C
Launch history
Status	Active
Launch sites	LA-2 & LA-3, XSLC
Total launches	27
Success(es)	27
First flight	8 February 1994
First stage
Height	23.272 m
Diameter	3.35 m
Propellant mass	171,800 kg (378,800 lb)
Powered by	4 YF-21C
Maximum thrust	2,961.6 kN (665,800 lbf)
Specific impulse	2,556.5 m/s (260.69 s)
Burn time	148 s
Propellant	N2O4 / UDMH
Second stage
Height	11.276 m
Diameter	3.35 m
Propellant mass	32,600 kg (71,900 lb)
Powered by	1 YF-24E; (1 x YF-22E (Main)); (4 x YF-23C (Vernier))
Maximum thrust	742 kN (167,000 lbf) (Main); 47.1 kN (10,600 lbf) (Vernier)
Specific impulse	2,922.57 m/s (298.019 s) (Main); 2,910.5 m/s (296.79 s) (Vernier)
Burn time	115 s
Propellant	N2O4 / UDMH
Third stage
Height	12.375 m
Diameter	3.0 m
Propellant mass	18,200 kg (40,100 lb)
Powered by	2 YF-75
Maximum thrust	167.17 kN (37,580 lbf)
Specific impulse	4,295 m/s (438.0 s)
Burn time	475 s
Propellant	LH2 / LOX
	[edit on Wikidata]

The Long March 3A (Chinese: 长征三号甲火箭), also known as the Chang Zheng 3A, CZ-3A and LM-3A, is a Chinese orbital carrier rocket design. It is a 3-stage rocket, and is usually used to place communications satellites and Beidou navigation satellites into geosynchronous transfer orbits.

It has formed the basis of the Long March 3B, which is a heavier version with four liquid booster rockets.

Launches

Long March 3A rockets have been launched from Launch Areas 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

List of launches

Flight number	Date (UTC)	Launch site	Payload	Orbit	Result
1	February 8, 1994 08:34	LA-2, XSLC	Shijian 4	HEO	Success
2	November 29, 1994 17:02	LA-2, XSLC	Dong Fang Hong 3	GTO	Success
3	May 11, 1997 16:17	LA-2, XSLC	ChinaSat 6	GTO	Success
4	January 25, 2000 16:45	LA-2, XSLC	ChinaSat 22	GTO	Success
5	October 30, 2000 16:02	LA-2, XSLC	Beidou-1A	GTO	Success
6	December 20, 2000 16:20	LA-2, XSLC	Beidou-1B	GTO	Success
7	May 24, 2003 16:34	LA-2, XSLC	Beidou-1C	GTO	Success
8	November 14, 2003 16:01	LA-2, XSLC	ChinaSat 20	GTO	Success
9	October 19, 2004 01:20	LA-2, XSLC	Fengyun 2C	GTO	Success
10	September 12, 2006 16:02	LA-2, XSLC	ChinaSat 22A	GTO	Success
11	December 8, 2006 00:53	LA-2, XSLC	Fengyun 2D	GTO	Success
12	February 2, 2007 16:28	LA-2, XSLC	Beidou-1D	GTO	Success
13	April 13, 2007 20:11	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-M1	MEO	Success
14	May 31, 2007 16:08	LA-3, XSLC	SinoSat 3	GTO	Success
15	October 24, 2007 10:05	LA-3, XSLC	Chang'e 1	LTO	Success
16	December 23, 2008 00:54	LA-3, XSLC	Fengyun 2E	GTO	Success
17	July 31, 2010 21:30	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO1	GTO	Success
18	November 24, 2010 16:09	LA-3, XSLC	ChinaSat 20A	GTO	Success
19	December 17, 2010 20:20	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO2	GTO	Success
20	April 9, 2011 20:47	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO3	GTO	Success
21	July 26, 2011 21:44	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO4	GTO	Success
22	December 1, 2011 21:07	LA-3, XSLC	Compass-IGSO5	GTO	Success
23	January 13, 2012 00:56	LA-3, XSLC	Fengyun 2F	GTO	Success
24	December 31, 2014 01:02	LA-2, XSLC	Fengyun 2G	GTO	Success
25	March 29, 2016 20:11	LA-2, XSLC	Compass-IGSO6	GTO	Success
26	June 5, 2018 13:07	LA-2, XSLC	Fengyun 2H	GTO	Success
27	July 9, 2018 20:58	LA-2, XSLC	Compass-IGSO7	GTO	Success

Technical data

LM-3A is a 3-stage launch vehicle developed on the basis of LM-3 and LM-2C. Its third stage is powered by cryogenic propellants: liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It is dedicated for launching spacecraft into GTO. Its launch capability for GTO mission is 2,600 kg. The fairing static envelope is 3m in diameter.^[4]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c Mark Wade. "CZ-3A". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
^ ^a ^b ^c "LM-3A Series Launch Vehicle User's Manual - Issue 2011" (PDF). China Great Wall Industries Corporation. Retrieved 2015-08-09.
^ ^a ^b Gunter Krebs. "CZ-3A (Chang Zheng-3A)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2008-04-27.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "LM-3A". China Great Wall Industry Corporation. Retrieved 2010-05-25.
^ "Long March 3C/E - Rockets". Spaceflight101.com. Retrieved 2016-11-25.

This China-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

This rocketry article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

[EA-1] Mark Wade. "CZ-3A". Encyclopedia Astronautica. Archived from the original on 2009-06-11. Retrieved 2010-05-25.

[CGWIC_User_Manual-2] "LM-3A Series Launch Vehicle User's Manual - Issue 2011" (PDF). China Great Wall Industries Corporation. Retrieved 2015-08-09.

[GSP-3] Gunter Krebs. "CZ-3A (Chang Zheng-3A)". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2008-04-27.

[CGWIC-4] "LM-3A". China Great Wall Industry Corporation. Retrieved 2010-05-25.

[Long_March_3_Series-5] "Long March 3C/E - Rockets". Spaceflight101.com. Retrieved 2016-11-25.

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v t e Long March (rocket family)
Rockets	Feng Bao 1 Long March 1 1D Long March 2 2A 2C 2D 2E 2F Long March 3 3A 3B 3B/E 3C Long March 4 4A 4B 4C Long March 5 5B Long March 6 6A 6C Long March 7 7A Long March 8 8A Long March 9 Long March 10 Long March 11 11H Long March 12
Launch sites	Jiuquan Taiyuan Wenchang Commercial Xichang
Manufacturers	China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology
Designers	Wang Xiji
List of Long March launches

v t e Orbital launch systems
List of orbital launch systems Comparison of orbital launch systems
Current	Angara 1.2 A5 Ariane 6 Atlas V Ceres 1 1S Chollima-1 Electron Falcon 9 Block 5 Falcon Heavy Firefly Alpha Gravity-1 GSLV H-IIA H3 Hyperbola-1 Jielong 1 3 KAIROS^† Kaituozhe 2 Kinetica 1 Kuaizhou 1 1A 11 Long March 2C 2D 2F 3A 3B/E 3C 4B 4C 5 5B 6 6A 7 7A 8 11 11H 12 LVM3 Minotaur I IV V C Nuri OS-M1^† Pegasus XL Proton-M PSLV Qaem 100 Qased Shavit 2 Simorgh SLS Block 1 Soyuz-2 2.1a / STA 2.1b / STB 2-1v SSLV Starship Tianlong-2 Unha Vega C Vulcan Centaur Zhuque 2
In development	Antares 330 Bloostar Cyclone-4M Deca Epsilon S Eris Gravity-2 Hyperbola-2 Irtysh Kuaizhou 21 31 Long March 9 10 Miura 5 MLV Neutron New Glenn New Line 1 NGLV Nova OS-M 2 4 Orbex Prime Pallas-1 Red Dwarf SLS Block 1B Block 2 Soyuz-7 Terran R Tianlong-3 VLM Vega E Zero Zhuque 3 Zuljanah
Retired	Antares 110 120 130^† 230 230+ Ariane 1 2 3 4 5 ASLV Athena I II Atlas B D E/F G H I II III LV-3B SLV-3 Able^† Agena Centaur Black Arrow Conestoga^† Delta A B C D E G J L M N 0100 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 II III IV IV Heavy Diamant Dnepr Energia Epsilon Europa I^† II^† Falcon 1 Falcon 9 v1.0 v1.1 v1.2 "Full Thrust" Feng Bao 1 GSLV Mk I H-I H-II H-IIB Juno I Juno II Kaituozhe-1 Kosmos original 1 2/2I 3 3M Lambda 4S LauncherOne Long March 1 1D^† 2A 2E 3 3B 4A Mu 4S 3C 3H 3S 3SII V N1^† N-I N-II Naro-1 Paektusan^† Pilot-2^† R-7 Luna Molniya M L Polyot Soyuz original FG L M U U2 Soyuz/Vostok Sputnik Voskhod Vostok L K 2 2M R-29 Shtil' Volna^† Rocket 3 RS1^† Safir 1 1A 1B Saturn I IB V Scout X-1 Blue Scout II^† X-2^† X-2M X-3 X-3M X-4 X-2B^† B A B-1 D-1 A-1 E-1 F-1 G-1 Shavit original 1 SLV Space Shuttle SPARK^† Sparta SS-520 Start-1 Terran 1^† Thor Able Ablestar 1 2 Agena A B D Burner 1 2 Delta DSV-2U Thorad-Agena SLV-2G SLV-2H Titan II GLV IIIA IIIB IIIC IIID IIIE 34D 23G CT-3 IV Tsyklon R-36-O original 2 3 Universal Rocket UR-500 Proton Proton-K Rokot Strela Vanguard Vega original VLS-1^† Zenit 2 2M 2FG 3SL 3SLB 3F Zhuque 1^†
Classes	Sounding rocket Small-lift launch vehicle Medium-lift launch vehicle Heavy-lift launch vehicle Super heavy-lift launch vehicle
This Template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future Symbol ^† indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)

v t e Chinese Lunar Exploration Program
China National Space Administration Chinese space program
Missions	Chang'e 1 (Oct 2007) Chang'e 2 (Oct 2010) Chang'e 3 (Dec 2013) Yutu rover Chang'e 5-T1 (Oct 2014) Queqiao (relay satellite, May 2018) Chang'e 4 (Dec 2018) Yutu-2 rover Chang'e 5 (Nov 2020) Queqiao 2 (relay satellite, Mar 2024) Tiandu 1 and 2 Chang'e 6 (May 2024) Chang'e 7 (2026) Chang'e 8 (2028)
Launch vehicles	Long March 3A Long March 3B Long March 3C Long March 5 Long March 8
Facilities	Xichang Satellite Launch Center Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site
People	Zhang Qingwei Ouyang Ziyuan Ma Xingrui Ye Peijian
Category Commons