Long March 3B#Long March 3B/E

The development of the Long March 3B began in 1986 to meet the needs of the international GEO communications satellite market. During its maiden flight, on 14 February 1996 carrying the Intelsat 708 satellite, the rocket suffered a guidance failure two seconds into the flight and destroyed a nearby town, killing at least six people,{{cite web|url=http://www.house.gov/coxreport/body/ch6bod.html |title=Satellite Launches in the PRC: Loral|access-date=23 May 2012|author=Select Committee of the United States House of Representatives|date=3 January 1999|publisher=U.S. National Security and Military/Commercial Concerns with the People's Republic of China}} {{PD-notice}} but outside estimates suggest that anywhere between 200 and 500 people might have been killed.{{cite web |last=Lan|first=Chen|title=Mist around the CZ-3B disaster|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2323/1|publisher=The Space Review|access-date=18 January 2014}} However, the author of the report later ruled out large casualties, because evidence suggest that the crash site was evacuated before the launch.{{cite web|last=Lan|first=Chen|title=Mist around the CZ-3B disaster (part 2)|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2326/1|publisher=The Space Review|access-date=29 October 2014}}

The Long March 3B and 3B/E rockets conducted ten successful launches between 1997 and 2008.

In 1997, the Agila 2 satellite was forced to use onboard propellant to reach its correct orbit because of poor injection accuracy on the part of its Long March 3B launch vehicle.International reference guide to space launch systems. Fourth edition. p. 243. {{ISBN|1-56347-591-X}} In 2009, a Long March 3B partially failed during launch due to a third stage anomaly, which resulted in the Palapa-D satellite reaching a lower orbit than planned.{{cite web|url=http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2009-08/31/content_11973441.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090904032008/http://news.xinhuanet.com/mil/2009-08/31/content_11973441.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 September 2009|title="帕拉帕－Ｄ"通信卫星未能进入预定轨道|publisher=Xinhuanet|date=31 August 2009|access-date=31 August 2009}} Nonetheless, the satellite was able to maneuver itself into the planned orbit. The Long March 3B and its variants remain in active use {{as of|2021|01|lc=y}}, having conducted a total of 26 consecutive successful launches, since 19 June 2017 until 9 March 2020.

In December 2013, a Long March 3B/E successfully lifted Chang'e 3, China's first Lunar lander and rover into the projected lunar-transfer orbit.

In April 2020, the third stage of the Long March 3B/E failed during a Palapa-N1 communications satellite mission; this was the first total failure of the Long March 3B/E.{{cite web |url=https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2020/04/long-march-3b-launches-indonesian-satellite/|title=Long March 3B fails during Indonesian satellite launch|last=Barbosa|first=Rui C.|date=2020-04-09 |publisher=NASASpaceFlight.com|access-date=2020-04-09}}

The Long March 3B is based on the Long March 3A as its core stage, with four liquid boosters strapped on the first stage. It has a low Earth orbit (LEO) cargo capacity of {{cvt|11200|kg}} and a GTO capacity is {{cvt|5100|kg}}.

The Long March 3B/E, also known as 3B/G2, is an enhanced variant of the Long March 3B, featuring an enlarged first stage and boosters, increasing its GTO payload capacity to {{cvt|5500|kg}}.{{cite web|url=http://www.cgwic.com/LaunchServices/LaunchVehicle/LM3B.html|title=LM-3B|publisher=China Great Wall Industry Corporation|access-date=31 August 2009|archive-date=10 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120610043108/http://www.cgwic.com/LaunchServices/LaunchVehicle/LM3B.html|url-status=dead}} Its maiden flight took place on 13 May 2007, when it successfully launched Nigeria's NigComSat-1, the first African geosynchronous communications satellite. In 2013, it successfully launched China's first lunar lander Chang'e 3 and lunar rover Yutu.

Since 2015, the Long March 3B and 3C can optionally accommodate a YZ-1 upper stage, which has been used to carry dual launches or BeiDou navigation satellites into medium Earth orbit (MEO).

{{main|Long March 3C}}

A modified version of the Long March 3B, the Long March 3C, was developed in the mid-1990s to bridge the gap in payload capacity between the Long March 3B and 3A. It is almost identical to the Long March 3B, but has two boosters instead of four, giving it a reduced GTO payload capacity of {{cvt|3800|kg}}. Its maiden launch took place on 25 April 2008.

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{{main|List of Long March launches}}

• Intelsat 708
• Beidou
• Chang'e 3
• Chang'e 4
• Tianwen-2
• Eutelsat W3C
• TJS-5
• Apstar 6C
• Chinasat 9A
• Chinasat 6C
• Palapa-D
• Fengyun 4B
• NigComSat-1
• Tiantong 1-03
• Gaofen 14

{{Main|Intelsat 708}}

On 14 February 1996, the launch of the first Long March 3B with Intelsat 708 failed just after liftoff when the launch vehicle veered off course and exploded when it hit the ground at T+23 seconds.

The Xinhua news agency reported that six people were killed and 57 injured. However, the Americans on hand for the launch have testified that "dozens, if not hundreds", of people were seen to gather outside the centre's main gate near the crash site the night before launch. When reporters were being taken away from the site, they found that most buildings had sustained serious damage or had been flattened completely.{{cite web|last=Lan|first=Chen|title=Mist around the CZ-3B disaster, Part 1|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2323/1|publisher=The Space Review|access-date=18 January 2014}} Other eyewitnesses were noted as having seen dozens of ambulances and many flatbed trucks, loaded with what could have been human remains, being taken to the local hospital.

The cause of the accident was traced to short-circuiting of the vehicle's guidance platform at liftoff.{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/resources/1999/coxreport/satellite/pg1.html|title=Satellite Launches in the PRC: Loral|publisher=CNN|access-date= 8 August 2018|date=25 May 1999}}

The participation of Space Systems/Loral in the accident investigation caused great political controversy in the United States. In 1997, the U.S. Defense Technology Security Administration found that China had obtained "significant benefit" from the Review Committee, results of which would improve their "launch vehicles ... ballistic missiles and in particular their guidance systems".

As a result, the U.S. Congress reclassified satellite technology as a munition and placed it back under the restrictive International Traffic in Arms Regulations in 1998.{{cite news|title=A short history of export control policy|url=http://www.thespacereview.com/article/528/1 |last1=Zelnio|first1=Ryan|publisher=The Space Review|date=January 9, 2006}} No license to launch United States spacecraft on Chinese rockets has been approved by the U.S. State Department since then, and an official at the Bureau of Industry and Security emphasized in 2016 that "no U.S.-origin content, regardless of significance, regardless of whether it's incorporated into a foreign-made item, can go to China".{{cite news|title=U.S. ITAR satellite export regime's effects still strong in Europe|url=http://spacenews.com/u-s-itar-satellite-export-regimes-effects-still-strong-in-europe/|last1=de Selding|first1=Peter B.|publisher=SpaceNews|date=April 14, 2016}}

On 31 August 2009, during the launch of Palapa-D, the third stage engine under-performed and placed the satellite into a lower than planned orbit. The satellite was able to make up the performance shortfall using its own engine and reach geosynchronous orbit, but with its lifetime shortened to 10.5 years from the originally projected 15–16 years. The investigation found that the failure was due to burn-through of the engine's gas generator, and that "the most likely cause of the burn-through was a foreign matter or humidity-caused icing in the engine's liquid-hydrogen injectors".{{cite web|last1=de Selding |first1=Peter B.|title=Burn-through Blamed in China Long March Mishap|url=http://spacenews.com/burn-through-blamed-china-long-march-mishap/|publisher=SpaceNews|date=19 November 2009|access-date=10 August 2015}}

On 19 June 2017, a Long March 3B/E mission carrying ChinaSat-9A ended in partial failure. Officials did not release details regarding the status of the mission for at least 4 hours after liftoff.{{Cite web|url=http://spaceflight101.com/long-march-3b-zhongxing-9a-launch/|title=Zhongxing-9A Comsat lifts off atop Chinese Long March 3B, Launch Outcome Unclear – Spaceflight101|date=18 June 2017 }} Two weeks later, on 7 July 2017, officials confirmed that the mission had been anomalous, with Space Daily reporting that "an anomaly was found on the carrier rocket's rolling control thruster, part of the attitude control engine, during the third gliding phase". The failure in the rocket's third stage left the payload in a lower than intended orbit, and the payload was forced to spend two weeks reaching its intended orbit under its own power.{{cite web |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Chinese_satellite_Zhongxing_9A_enters_preset_orbit_999.html|title=Chinese satellite Zhongxing-9A|publisher=Space Daily}}

On 9 April 2020, a Long March 3B launcher failed after lifting off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the southwestern Sichuan province at 11:46 UTC during the launch of an Indonesian communications satellite, Palapa-N1 (Nusantara Dua) of a mass of 5500 kg and was expected to enter service in geostationary orbit at 113.0° East, replacing the Palapa-D satellite. But one of the two YF-75 third stage engines failed to ignite, preventing the Palapa-N1 (Nusantara Dua) satellite from reaching orbit.{{Cite web|url=https://kumparan.com/kumparantech/satelit-nusantara-dua-gagal-mengorbit-siaran-tv-dan-radio-terancam-bermasalah-1tCCDi3iDLY|title=Satelit Nusantara Dua Gagal Mengorbit, Siaran TV dan Radio Terancam Bermasalah}} Wreckage from the third stage and the Palapa-N1 spacecraft re-entered the atmosphere, leading to sightings of fiery debris in the skies over Guam. With the Long March 3B failure, Chinese rockets have faltered on two missions in less than a month. A Long March 7A rocket failed to place a satellite in orbit on 16 March 2020 after taking off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on Hainan Island, located in southern China.https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/04/09/chinese-rocket-fails-during-launch-of-indonesian-communications-satellite/ - 9 April 2020 After two Chinese launch failures in less than a month, further Chinese launches will be likely delayed until it is sure that the quality control is satisfactory.{{Cite web|url=https://www.seradata.com/china-loses-another-long-march-3b-launch-fails-and-palapa-n1-falls-into-drink/|title = China loses another: Long March 3B launch fails and Palapa-N1 falls into the drink|date = 9 April 2020}}

Debris from Long March 3B launches have fallen on nearby villages due to the inland location of China's launch sites. Grid fins for guiding boosters down to Earth more accurately have been tested on Long March 2C and 4B, but not yet on 3B.{{cite web|last=Li|first=Michael Sheetz,Yun|date=2019-11-26|title='Adjust your location quickly' — How China warns residents before rockets crash down from space |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/11/26/chinese-rocket-crushes-houses-after-government-warning-to-residents.html|access-date=2020-08-04|website=cnbc.com}}

{{Portal|Spaceflight|China}}

• List of Long March launches (2025-2029)

{{Portal|Spaceflight|China}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.globalsecurity.org/space/library/report/1999/3b.htm LM-3B User's Manual] at GlobalSecurity.org
• [http://www.calt.com/english/ps/index.html Long March-3B (LM-3B)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708113140/http://www.calt.com/english/ps/index.html |date=8 July 2011 }} at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology

{{Long March rockets}}

{{Expendable launch systems}}

{{CLEP}}

Category:Long March (rocket family)

Category:Vehicles introduced in 1996