Chang Zheng-4B missile launch. english.gov.cn . image
The People’s Republic of China successfully launched its Long March 4C carrier system, the task of which was to launch a new Gaofen-series optical remote sensing satellite into orbit. Thus, it was the 21st Chinese orbital mission to be successfully carried out in the current calendar year.
The Middle Kingdom is counting this year another successful launch of its satellite into space. This time, due to the launch, the Gaofen 12 remote sensor has been put into space, the latest in a series of instruments designed to monitor the planet’s surface with high-resolution instruments. All Gaofen instruments make up China’s CHEOS (Chinese High Resolution Earth Observation System).
The start took place on June 27 this year. in. 17:46 CET from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on the edge of the Gobi Desert in northwest China. The carrier system responsible for transporting the described device to a sunsynchronous orbit was Long March 4C. The rocket successfully carried the payload to the specified altitude, including the mailbox of 46 Gaofen-series satellites launched. Available information indicates that the first stage of the missile after separation crashed on a beach in the northwest of the country.
The Chinese authorities have not released much information about the launch of Sputnik. The Gaofen constellation is known to be a series of Chinese civilian remote sensing satellites that provide near-real-time images of the surface of our planet, for example. For resource measurement, environmental research and climate change monitoring. It is also known that the third satellite, Gaofen 12, is equipped with a SAR radar, which allows monitoring in the microwave range.
The first Gaofen 12 rocket lifted off in November 2019 from the Taiyuan space base, and the second in March 2021 from the Jiuquan facility. Currently the entire constellation consists of more than 30 active satellites in orbit.
The success of the mission in question also marks the 21st successful launch of China’s Long March family missile this year. According to current plans, the People’s Republic of China intends to implement more than 50 starts in 2022, so far we have seen the slow approach of the Middle Kingdom.
