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| Attribute | Long March 8 (incl. 8A) 🇨🇳 China Trust: Operator-primaryⓘ Last verified Active · Last updated 2026-07-26Remove × | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Company | CASC / SAST | PLD Space | China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) / CASC |
| Country | 🇨🇳 China | 🇪🇸 Spain | 🇨🇳 China |
| Status | Active | In Development | Active |
| Vehicle class | Medium | Small | Medium |
| Propellant | UDMH / N₂O₄ (hypergolic all stages) | RP-1 / LOX | RP-1 / LOX (stage 1); LH2/LOX (stage 2) |
| Reusable | No | Yes | No |
| Stages | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| First flight | 1992 | 2026 | 2020 |
| Payload to LEO | 3,500 kgas of [1]SSO capacity ~1,300 kg; standard LEO 3,500 kg | 1,080 kgas of [1]540 kg to SSO. First flight is a stated plan (targeted Q1 2026 as of this research; not yet confirmed flown) — treat as a target, not a fact. | 8,100 kgas of [1]5,000 kg to 700 km SSO (base); the enlarged-second-stage 8A variant (first flew 2025-02-11) lifts 7,000 kg to the same SSO reference orbit. ↑ Best |
| Payload to GTO | — | — | — |
| Height | 41.06 mas of [1] | 35.7 mas of [1] | 50.3 mas of [1] ↑ Best |
| Liftoff mass | 232 tas of [1] | 69 tas of [1] | 356 t (base); 371 t (8A)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Success rate | 98.7%as of [2]~77/78 successes; one known failure (CZ-2D Y7, Mar 1995 upper-stage anomaly) | — | 100% (16/16 combined base + 8A)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Total flights | ~78as of [2] | — | 16 (base + 8A combined)as of [1] ↑ Best |
| Cost / kg LEO | — | — | — |
| Summary | China's most-used sun-synchronous and polar orbit workhorse for small-to-medium military and commercial Earth observation satellites. Launched from Jiuquan and Taiyuan. Uses storable hypergolic propellants for high launch-readiness but produces toxic exhaust. | PLD Space's orbital small launcher with a recoverable first stage (engine thrust + parachutes), developed with ESA Future Launchers Preparatory Programme support; primary launch site is the Guiana Space Centre. | A two-stage medium-lift launcher originally designed with a reusable combined-booster-recovery concept in mind, though currently operational vehicles fly expendable. Exclusively from Wenchang. |
48 launch vehicles across 10 countries — active, retired, and in development — with primary-source citations from manufacturer user guides and agency press kits. Pure URL state: bookmark or share the link and the comparison reproduces exactly.