Tag: Long March
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China’s first launch of 2020 lofts mystery payload
A Long March 3B rocket lifts off Tuesday with the TJS 5 satellite. Credit: People’s Daily A Chinese Long March 3B rocket launched a satellite Tuesday toward a position in geostationary orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above Earth. Chinese state media claimed the mysterious spacecraft has a communication and television broadcast mission,…
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Long March 5 conducts critical Return To Flight mission
In what will prove to be its most critical flight to date, China’s Chang Zheng 5 (or Long March 5, as it is known outside of China) rocket has conducted its third mission after two less-than-perfect previous flights. Should Friday’s flight be confirmed as successful, it would pave the way for three critical launches in…
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Successful Long March 5 launch paves way for new Chinese space missions
China’s third Long March 5 rocket lifts off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. Credit: CCTV The third launch of China’s heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket successfully delivered its satellite payload to orbit Friday, validating engine design changes after a failure on the Long March 5’s second flight, and clearing the way for the launch…
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China’s Long March 5 rocket poised for crucial return-to-flight launch
China’s third Long March 5 rocket rolled out to its launch pad Dec. 21 at the Wenchang space center on Hainan Island. Credit: Xinhua China’s Long March 5 rocket — the country’s most powerful launcher — is set for its third flight Friday on a critical validation mission after a core stage engine failure doomed…
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Long March 4B lofts CBERS-04A and Ethiopia’s first satellite
China launched a new remote sensing satellite on the CBERS program. Launch of CBERS-04A took place on December 20 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, Shanxi Province, at 03:21 UTC from the LC9 launch complex using the Long March-4B (Y44) – Chang Zheng-4B – rocket. The launch included other payloads, including Ethiopia’s first satellite. CBERS-04A:…
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China completes core of Beidou global satellite navigation system
A Long March 3B rocket lifts off Monday from the Xichang space base in southwestern China’s Sichuan province. Credit: CASC Two Chinese Beidou navigation satellites successfully launched Monday on top of a Long March 3B rocket, completing the core of China’s independent positioning and timing network ahead of the start of global service next year.…
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China nears global coverage with the latest launch of Beidou-3M satellites
With the launch Monday of a new pair of navigation satellites, China is one step nearer to achieving global coverage with its navigation satellite system. The launch of Beidou-3M19 (Beidou-52) and Beidou-3M20 (Beidou-53) took place at 07:22 UTC, lofted by the Long March-3BGZ/YZ-1 (Y67/Y15) from the LC3 Launch Complex at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center,…
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China launches radar observation satellite
A Long March 4C rocket took off from the Taiyuan space center in northern China at 2352 (6:52 p.m. EST) Wednesday. Credit: Xinhua A new all-weather radar imaging satellite for China’s civilian-oriented fleet of Gaofen Earth observatories launched Wednesday aboard a Long March 4C rocket, according to Chinese state media. The Gaofen 12 radar surveillance…
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Long March 4C lofts Gaofen-12
China launched a new remote sensing satellite on November 27 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, Shanxi Province. Launch of Gaofen-12 took place at 23:52 UTC from the LC9 launch complex using the Long March-4C (Y24) – Chang Zheng-4C – rocket. The new Earth observation satellite is equipped with a high-resolution Earth observation system. It…
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China launches two more Beidou navigation satellites
A Long March 3B rocket lifted off at 0055 GMT (8:55 a.m. Beijing time) Saturday with two Beidou navigation satellites. Credit: Xinhua Maintaining a rapid-fire launch cadence to close out the year, China added two more Beidou satellites to its independent positioning, navigation and timing fleet Saturday with a successful launch aboard a Long March…