BEIJING, Nov. 8 (Xinhua) -- China's new-generation medium-sized rocket, the Long March-8, concluded a successful full rehearsal Friday at the country's first commercial space launch site.
The rehearsal was conducted at the No. 1 launch pad, located in the city of Wenchang on south China's island province of Hainan, according to the rocket's developer, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
A Long March-8 rocket is scheduled to be launched around the end of this year, marking the inaugural mission for the new commercial launch pad.
Construction work on the Hainan commercial space launch site commenced in July 2022, and it is now the country's first launch site dedicated to commercial missions.
Making its maiden flight in December 2020, this rocket type has bridged the gap in China's ability to launch 3 to 5 tonne payloads into sun-synchronous orbits.
During the week-long drill, the Long March-8 rocket on the launch pad underwent subsystem and compatibility assessments, thorough inspections, emergency response exercises, as well as simulations of fueling and propellant dumping.
Also, the CASC is advancing the development of 4-meter-diameter and 5-meter-diameter reusable rockets to meet the growing demand in the commercial space market, with their first flights scheduled for 2025 and 2026, respectively.
China's commercial space industry expanded from 800 billion yuan (about 112 billion U.S. dollars) in 2019 to 1.9 trillion yuan in 2023. The market scale is expected to reach 2.34 trillion yuan by the end of 2024, according to an industry report. ■