China launches newest Long March rocket carrying ‘test satellites’ for broadband networks

China successfully launched its newest rocket on Saturday, taking another step toward more powerful launch capabilities and a manned moon landing before 2030.

The 62-meter-tall, 3.8-meter-wide spacecraft blasted off from the Wenchang Spaceport on southern China’s Hainan Island at 10:25 p.m. Beijing time on March 12, sending two “technology test satellites” into orbit, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology. Corporation (CASC), the country’s leading space contractor.

CASC did not provide further details about the satellites.

The two-stage rocket, fueled by burning kerosene and liquid oxygen, is notable as the largest ever launched by China, said Wu Jialin, an engineer at the Shanghai Academy of Space Flight Technology under CASC, which developed the spacecraft.

Most Chinese missiles are 3.35 meters in diameter, Wu told a news conference at the site shortly after the launch was announced as a success. “A wider body means the rocket can hold about 30 percent more propellant, giving it a much improved carrying capacity,” he said.

The Long March 12 can deliver about 12 tons of payload into low Earth orbit and more than 6 tons into a so-called sun-synchronous orbit, Wu said. It will join existing missiles to help China assemble its broadband “megaconstellations”.

The planned megaconstellations, called Qianfan and Guowang, each aim to launch more than 13,000 satellites to provide internet service to remote areas and rival SpaceX’s Starlink in the international market.