| FG-15B | |
| Country Of Origin: | China |
| First Date: | 1986-02-02 |
| Designer: | China Hexi Chemical and Machinery Corporation |
| Purpose: | Apogee kick motor |
| Associated: | Long March 3 |
| Predecessor: | FG-02 |
| Successor: | FG-36 |
| Status: | Out of Production |
| Type: | solid |
| Oxidiser: | AP |
| Fuel: | HTPB |
| Casing: | Fiberglass |
| Combustion Chamber: | 1 |
| Thrust(Vac): | 40.9kN |
| Specific Impulse Vacuum: | 289isp |
| Total Impulse: | 1.432MN |
| Burn Time: | 35s |
| Capacity: | 505kg (1,113lb) |
| Length: | 1489mm |
| Diameter: | 896mm |
| Dry Weight: | 75kg (165lb) |
| Used In: | Dong Fang Hong 2 |
The FG-15 (AKA DFH-2 AKM and SpaB-170) was a Chinese spin stabilized apogee kick motor burning HTPB-based composite propellant. It was developed by China Hexi Chemical and Machinery Corporation (also known as the 6th Academy of CASIC) for use in the Dong Fang Hong 2 satellite bus for insertion into GSO orbit.
It has a total nominal mass of 580kg (1,280lb), of which 505kg (1,113lb) is propellant load and its burn out mass is 75kg (165lb). It has an average thrust of 40.9kN with a specific impulse of 289 seconds burning for 35 seconds, with a total impulse of 1.432MN. This motor introduced a series of innovations for the Chinese solid motor industry: first use of glass fibre wound cases, carbon/carbon nozzle throat insert material, contoured divergent nozzle, and non-destructive test of the motor grain.
The initial version had the manufacturing code FG-15 was associated to the DFH-2 bus and flew twice. The FG-15B was used by the DFH-2A bus and flew five times.
| Date | Carrier Rocket | Motor | Launch site | Mission | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984-01-29 | FG-15 | Failure to ignite | |||
| 1984-04-09 | FG-15 | Success | |||
| 1986-02-02 | FG-15B | Success | |||
| 1988-03-09 | FG-15B | ChinaSat-1 (DFH-2A-T2) | Success | ||
| 1998-12-24 | FG-15B | Success | |||
| 1990-02-05 | FG-15B | Success | |||
| 1991-12-28 | FG-15B | ChinaSat-4 (DFH-2A-T5) | Failure to ignite | ||