Long March - 3C & Chang'e 2

By Eduarddo

Long March 3C, also known as the Changzheng 3C, CZ-3C and LM-3C, is a Chinese orbital launch vehicle. It is launched from Launch Complex 2 and 3 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC). A three-stage rocket with two strapon liquid rocket boosters, it is a member of the Long March 3 rocket family, and was derived from the Long March 3B. It was designed to fill a gap in payload capacities between the Long March 3A and 3B.

It made its maiden flight on 25 April 2008, at 15:35 UTC. The payload for the first launch was the Tianlian I-01 data relay communications satellite. The second carried the Compass-G2 navigation satellite and was conducted on 14 April 2009. The third launch was made on 16 January 2010, with the Compass-G1 satellite. The fourth carrying the Compass-G3 navigation satellite was launched on 2 June 2010. On 1 October 2010, it successfully launched China's second lunar probe, Chang'e 2.

An enhanced version, named Long March 3C/E, debuted during the launch of Chang'e 5-T1 on 23 October 2014. On 30 March 2015, the Yuanzheng upper stage was used on top of a Long March 3C launch vehicle for the first time.

Chang'e 2

Chang'e 2 is a Chinese uncrewed lunar probe that was launched on 1 October 2010. It was a follow-up to the Chang'e 1 lunar probe, which was launched in 2007. Chang'e 2 was part of the first phase of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program, and conducted research from a 100-km-high lunar orbit in preparation for the December 2013 soft landing by the Chang'e 3 lander and rover.[4][5] Chang'e 2 was similar in design to Chang'e 1, although it featured some technical improvements, including a more advanced onboard camera. Like its predecessor, the probe was named after Chang'e, an ancient Chinese moon goddess.

After completing its primary objective, the probe left lunar orbit for the Earth–Sun L2 Lagrangian point, to test the Chinese tracking and control network, making the China National Space Administration the third space agency after NASA and ESA to have visited this point.[6] It entered orbit around L2 on 25 August 2011, and began transmitting data from its new position in September 2011.[7][8] In April 2012, Chang'e 2 departed L2 to begin an extended mission to the asteroid 4179 Toutatis,[9][10] which it successfully flew by in December 2012.[11] This success made China's CNSA the fourth space agency to directly explore asteroids, after NASA, ESA and JAXA. As of 2014, Chang'e 2 has travelled over 100 million km from Earth,[12] conducting a long-term mission to verify China's deep-space tracking and control systems.[13] Contact with the spacecraft was lost in 2014 as its signal strength weakened due to distance.[2] The probe is expected to return to Earth's vicinity sometime around 2027.

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