{"id":11534,"date":"2021-08-06T00:39:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-05T16:39:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/chinese-rocket-launches-two-small-satellites-to-test-communications-tech\/"},"modified":"2021-08-06T00:39:32","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T16:39:32","slug":"chinese-rocket-launches-two-small-satellites-to-test-communications-tech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/chinese-rocket-launches-two-small-satellites-to-test-communications-tech\/","title":{"rendered":"Chinese rocket launches two small satellites to test communications tech"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"
A Long March 6 rocket lifts off Wednesday with two small satellites. Credit: Institute of Microsatellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Chinese rocket successfully launched Wednesday with a pair of small communications satellites reportedly linked to a secretive German company. The Chinese institute that built the satellites said they will test laser communications and electric thruster technologies.<\/p>\n

The two satellites lifted off on top of a Long March 6 rocket at 7:01 a.m. EDT (1101 GMT) Wednesday from the Taiyuan launch base in Shanxi province, located in northern China.<\/p>\n

The three-stage Long March 6 rocket delivered its two payloads into an orbit approximately 560 miles (900 kilometers) above Earth, at an inclination of 89 degrees to the equator, according to U.S. military tracking data.<\/p>\n

Chinese officials declared the launch a success, marking the 27th orbital launch attempt by a Chinese rocket this year. Two of China\u2019s orbital launch attempts this year have failed.<\/p>\n

The two satellites aboard the Long March 6 launch were developed by the Shanghai Institute of Microsatellite Innovation, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.<\/p>\n

The mission was the second launch with test satellites for a new global multimedia network, the Chinese Academy of Sciences said, without identifying the name of the network.<\/p>\n

The orbital inclination, spacecraft manufacturer, and the description of the satellites match a pair of \u201cKL-Alpha\u201d payloads launched in 2019 for KLEO Connect, a Munich-based company which seeks to develop a fleet of 300 small satellites to provide industrial asset tracking and data relay services.<\/p>\n

The two technology demonstration satellites launched Wednesday are believed to be the next pair of \u201cKL-Beta\u201d test spacecraft.<\/p>\n

KLEO Connect did not respond to a request for confirmation of their role in the mission.<\/p>\n

The Chinese Academy of Sciences said the satellites are equipped with laser and Ka-band radio communications payloads, Hall electric thrusters, and inter-satellite links.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Artist\u2019s concept of the two small test satellites launched Wednesday. Credit: Institute of Microsatellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The launch Wednesday marked the sixth flight of a Long March 6 rocket since 2015. The Long March 6 is sized to haul a payload of up to 1,100 pounds (500 kilograms) to a sun-synchronous polar orbit a few hundred miles above Earth.<\/p>\n

The Long March 6\u2019s first stage is powered by a kerosene-fueled YF-100 main engine, a staged combustion powerplant Chinese engineers have worked on since 2000. The engine generates approximately 120 metric tons, or 264,000 pounds, of thrust. A YF-115 engine provides propulsion for the Long March 6 second stage.<\/p>\n

The YF-100 and YF-115 engines are the same new-generation powerplants used on China\u2019s larger Long March 5 and Long March 7 rockets.<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Long March 6 rocket lifts off Wednesday with two small satellites. Credit: Institute of Microsatellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences A Chinese rocket successfully launched Wednesday with a pair of small communications satellites reportedly linked to a secretive German company. The Chinese institute that built the satellites said they will test laser […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11534\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}