Jielong 3 (Chinese: 捷龙三号运载火箭, meaning "agile dragon", also known as Smart Dragon 3, SD-3), is a solid fueled orbital launch vehicle developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology's subsidiary China Rocket to launch up to 1500 kg to a 500 km altitude Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). The rocket is 31 meters tall, 2.65 meters in diameter and weighs 145 metric tons. It is a solid fuel, 4 stage orbital rocket.[2] The fairing diameter is 3.35 m. It uses the same rocket motors as the Zhongke-1 (ZK-1, Lijian-1) rocket.
The maiden flight of Jielong 3 on 9 December 2022, 06:35 UTC was successful. It delivered fourteen small satellites into polar orbit. The satellites were Jilin-1 Gaofen-03D-44-50 and Pingtai-01A01, HEAD 2H, Jinzijing Qilu-1 05 and 06, Tianqi 07, Huoju 1 (Torch 1) and CAS 5A. The launch took place from a floating platform off Yantai, Shandong.
The carrying capacity of the Jielong 3 launcher initially stood at 1,560 kilograms to 500 kilometres SSO orbits, but this has since increased to 1,600 kilograms by the rocket's fifth launch on 13 January, 2025. Also in January 2025, Gao Lijun from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) stated that further improvments will be made to the rocket in order to enable it eventually to carry up to two metric tons to 500 km SSO orbits.[1]
^"丰台少年二号暨少年梦想二号"卫星系列报道——星箭电气对接试验" ["Fengtai Junior No.2 and Junior Dream No.2" Satellite Series Report - Satellite-Rocket Electric Separation Test]. East Highland Youth Science and Technology Museum (in Chinese). 17 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022 – via Weixin QQ.
^Gao, Huantao (31 October 2022). "逐梦深空，我国商业航天首颗生物卫星即将发射" [Chasing the dream of deep space, my country's first commercial space satellite is about to launch]. Rocket Pi (in Chinese). Retrieved 31 October 2022 – via Weixin QQ.
^ abcd"首飞后再亮相，捷龙三号下半年"动作"曝光" [After the maiden flight, the "activity" of Jielong 3 will resume in the second half of the year]. China Rocket (in Chinese). 9 June 2023. Retrieved 9 June 2023.
This template lists historical, current, and future space rockets that at least once attempted (but not necessarily succeeded in) an orbital launch or that are planned to attempt such a launch in the future
Symbol † indicates past or current rockets that attempted orbital launches but never succeeded (never did or has yet to perform a successful orbital launch)
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