China's Smart Dragon-3 rocket launches 8 satellites from sea

China launched a Smart Dragon-3 carrier rocket from the waters near the city of Haiyang in east China's Shandong Province on Tuesday, placing eight satellites into planned orbit.<br /><br />The rocket is developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.<br /><br />The four-stage solid-propellant Smart Dragon-3 rocket is a type of cost-effective and highly reliable launch vehicle that is mainly used for launching spacecraft to the sun-synchronous orbit or low Earth orbit, according to the developer.<br /><br />Smart Dragon-3 has a strong carrying capacity and is suitable for a variety of commercial space launch missions. With a length of 31 meters and a maximum diameter of 2.64 meters, the rocket has a carrying capacity of about 1.5 tonnes for a 500 km solar synchronous orbit.<br /><br />#China #SpaceLaunch #SmartDragon3 #Shandong #SatelliteLaunch #SpaceTech