Long March 6 version
Long March 6 CZ-6C
The Long March 6C is the twin-engine version of the Long March 6: it keeps the 3.35 m body but fits two YF-100 engines on the first stage instead of one, for 2,376 kN of combined thrust. It is 43 m tall, lifts off at 217,000 kg and places 4,500 kg in low Earth orbit or 2,400 kg in a 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit. Its maiden flight, successful, was on 7 May 2024 from Taiyuan.
- May 7, 2024
- First launch
- 4,500 kg
- LEO capacity
- 2,376 kN
- Thrust
- No
- Reusable
History
Between the 6 and the 6A
The CZ-6C fills an intermediate slot in the family. It can be described two ways: as a Long March 6 with a twin-engine first stage, or as a slightly shorter Long March 6A without the four solid boosters. Both descriptions are accurate and explain its role: a single-stick launcher, with no solid propellant, for small and medium military, civil and commercial satellites bound for low Earth and Sun-synchronous orbits.
It is built by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, like the rest of the 6 branch of the family, and burns kerosene and liquid oxygen in both stages: two YF-100 engines on the first and one YF-115 on the second, the latter 2.9 m in diameter.
Debut and commercial pitch
The first flight lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on 7 May 2024 at 13:21 UTC and was a success. Even before flying, in July 2023, a CZ-6C rideshare slot was sold at an online auction with bidding starting at ¥87,000 per kilogram, a sign of the commercial slant the Shanghai Academy wants to give the vehicle.