China will launch a communication satellite made by an Italian company with its Long March 3-A Rocket in May, 2001, according to sources from Chinese Research Institute for Rocketry.
Technology of China's Long March Rocket has stepped onto a mature stage, with performance and reliability standards standing world foremost, fully mastering techniques of launching single, double and multi-satellites by one rocket.
Successful launching of the recoverable satellite made China the third country in the world, after the United States and the former Soviet Union, to master the technology of satellite recovery and remote sensing. Foreign media has reported that the launching of "ShenZhou" spacecraft by new style carrier rocket indicates that China has become the third member of the world "Club of Manned-spacecraft".
In terms of carrying capacity, a complete series of Long March Rockets has taken form. Its carrying capacity, for low orbit has increased from 400kg to 13600kg, for solar synchronous orbit from 200kg to 7000kg, for solar synchronous transfer orbit from 1500kg to 5000kg, covering a wide range of low, upper-middle and high space orbits. Now China is capable of launching satellites of various orbits and weights and can fully meet the world demand for commercial satellites launching.
