BEIJING, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- China says it will debut a new generation of Long March launch rockets within the next five years to join its rocket fleet of satellite launchers.
Long March-5, -6 and -7 will be non-toxic, low-cost, highly reliable, adaptable and safe carrier rockets, Yu Menglun of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said in an interview with China's state-run news agency Xinhua.
The Long March-5 rocket will use non-toxic and pollution-free propellant to put up to 25 tons of payload into low Earth-orbit or 14 tons into geosynchronous orbit, Yu said.
The Long March-6, a high-speed launch vehicle, can put 1 ton into a sun-synchronous orbit while the Long March-7 has a maximum low Earth-orbit payload capacity of 13.5 tons and 5.5 tons of sun-synchronous orbit payload, he said.
The new Long March models will be the latest in a line of launch vehicles dating back to 1956 when China first started the development of modern carrier rockers, Xinhua said.
