BEIJING, Mar. 9 (China Space News) -- The new generation medium-lift carrier rocket, the Long March-8 (CZ-8), is expected to make its maiden flight in 2020, while the heavy-lift carrier rocket with a carrying capacity of over 100 tons on 2030, said Li Hong, director of China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) under China Aerospace Science and Technology Cooperation (CASC) in an interview on Tuesday.

The CZ-8 rocket will fill the gap of Chinese launch vehicles with a carrying capacity between 3 and 4.5 tons on the sun-synchronous orbit, which will add a new member to the carrier rocket family, meet the future demands of commercial rocket launching market on medium and high Earth orbits and push forward the upgrading of current launch vehicles.

Periodical success has also been achieved in the key technology of heavy-lift carrier rocket with carrying capacity exceeding 100 tons, Li said, adding that the heavy-lift carrier rocket is expected to make maiden flight in 2030.