China's Long March-10 carrier rocket passes fairing separation test

China's Long March-10 carrier rocket series has completed a fairing separation test that fully assessed issues in areas such as design, connection structure and separation strategy.

The Long March-10 carrier rockets are China's new generation of manned launch vehicles, which will help the country achieve its goal of landing astronauts on the moon by 2030.

The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), which developed the carrier rockets, said on Wednesday that the fairing separated smoothly at the planned time and under predetermined conditions and that all parameters tested met their design requirements. The test verified the rationality of the design, as well as interface coordination.

The results have validated the reliability of the entire system plan and provided valuable data for subsequent tests.

Fairing separation is a key action in the carrier rocket launch process. The success of the test is further solid progress in the sample development of the Long March-10 carrier rocket series.

The fairing is an important part of a launch vehicle and provides effective protection for spacecraft to avoid the adverse effects of high-speed airflow.

During the separation test, the height and diameter of the fairing were both five meters – a newly developed configuration, according to the CALT.

The Long March-10 series has also passed several large-scale tests, including a sub-stage power system test, the CALT said, noting that it will continue to verify the design of each system comprehensively.

(Cover: Model of the Long March-10 carrier rocket. /CFP)