Long March 5 (LM-5)
China Rocket Co. (CALT)
China's most powerful operational rocket, capable of 25 tonnes to LEO and 14 tonnes to GTO.
Key figurescomparable across the catalogue
- Payload capacity
- 25,000 kg
Normalised to common units so this product can be compared with others in its category. The supplier's own wording is below.
As published by the supplier
- Height
- 56.97 m
- Diameter (core)
- 5 m
- Payload to LEO
- ~25,000 kg
- Payload to GTO
- ~14,000 kg
- Core propellant
- LOX / LH2
- Booster propellant
- LOX / Kerosene (YF-100)
- Launch site
- Wenchang, Hainan
About
The Long March 5 (LM-5 / CZ-5) is CALT’s heavy-lift rocket and China’s most capable operational launch vehicle. Standing 56.97 m tall with a 5-meter core diameter, LM-5 uses a LOX/LH2 core stage flanked by four YF-100 kerosene/LOX strap-on boosters. It is the first Chinese rocket to use liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen as the core propellant, providing high specific impulse.
LM-5 is the designated carrier for China’s most ambitious missions: the Tianhe core module of China’s Space Station, the Tianwen-1 Mars mission, the Chang’e-5 lunar sample return, and the planned crewed lunar mission architecture. Its GTO payload capacity of approximately 14 tonnes enables delivery of the largest Chinese communications satellites.
The rocket launches from Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island, China’s southernmost spaceport, which provides equatorial orbit advantage for GTO missions.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.