China is taking no breaks in its space program as it recently launched a pair of satellites on Thursday, August 6.
At 12:01 at noon local time (12:01 AM EDT) on its Jiuquan facility in the Gobi Desert, China watched as another Long March 2D rocket lifted off. Its payload was the Gaofen 9 (04) satellite, which is an optical observation satellite of the Gaofen 9 remote sensing series. It is accompanied by a small companion satellite Tsinghua University.
The Gaofen 9 and the Long March Family
The latest Gaofen 9 satellite lofted recently is the fourth piece of the Chinese Gaofen 9 project. An individual satellite measures only 3 feet across and is capable of snapping high-resolution images. Two of its predecessors, Gaofen 9 (02 and 03), were launched earlier this year.
Gaofen, which translates to "High Resolution," is a series of civilian Earth observation satellites deployed as a part of China High-definition Earth Observation System (CHEOS). First proposed back in 2006, it was approved and began by the Chinese government four years later in 2010. Gaofen is one of the necessary components for the industrial giant's long-term plans for space observation and exploration.
For the Chinese government, the satellite system will be used primarily for land surveying, city planning, resolving land right disputes, designing future road networks, estimating crop yields, and disaster management, prevention, and mitigation.
It is also expected to assist in China's mega infrastructure project - the Belt and Road initiative - that is among the pillars of the country's foreign policy.
Meanwhile, China's latest launch marks the 50th launch of the Long March 2D launch rockets. It was also the 342nd total launch of the Long March rocket family. The Long March refers to China's family of expendable rockets, often abbreviated internationally as LM (Long March) and CZ in China - "Chang Zheng" being the Chinese translation for Long March.
The Long March rockets are developed and designed by experts at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology and operated by the China National Space Administration.
In the report from the state-run press outlet Xinhua News Agency, the accompanying Tsinghua University project is a Q-SAT payload. The microsatellite is reportedly designed to conduct a study on orbital atmospheric density measurement.
China's Space Program: One Step After the Other
The launch of the latest Gaofen missile follows the continuous strides made by the Chinese Space Program. Last July 31 (Friday), the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee Central Secretary and Chinese President, Xi Jinping, formally commissioned the BeiDou-3 System (BDS).
The third generation of their own satellite navigation system has launched 35 satellites in space. It is set to compete with the US GPS, Russian Glonass, and the European Union Galileo project.
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Yang Changfeng, chief architect of the BDS, called the success as the fruit of the determination and planning by the CPC and the people involved in the program. The BDS project included some 300,000 workers--engineers, scientists, and technicians. The BeiDou Spokesperson Ran Chenqi also said that the key components for the satellite system were "100% made in China."
The final satellite that completed the BeiDou constellation was also carried into Earth's orbit by a Long March rocket, specifically a Long March 3B carrier.
