{"id":14829,"date":"2017-03-03T18:08:18","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T10:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/small-experimental-satellite-launched-by-new-chinese-rocket\/"},"modified":"2017-03-03T18:08:18","modified_gmt":"2017-03-03T10:08:18","slug":"small-experimental-satellite-launched-by-new-chinese-rocket","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/small-experimental-satellite-launched-by-new-chinese-rocket\/","title":{"rendered":"Small experimental satellite launched by new Chinese rocket"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>China debuted a new solid-fueled booster Thursday in an unannounced flight that put a small satellite into polar orbit, adding another rocket to the country\u2019s growing fleet of lightweight launchers.<\/p>\n<p>The KT-2 rocket lifted off at 2353 GMT (6:53 p.m. EST) Thursday from the Jiuquan space center, a military-run base in northwestern China\u2019s Gobi Desert, according to a report from the government-owned Xinhua news agency.<\/p>\n<p>The secretive launch occurred at 7:53 a.m. Beijing time Friday without an official announcement ahead of time, other than a notice to pilots published two days before the mission warning of drop zones for the KT-2\u2019s spent motor casings.<\/p>\n<p>Little is known about the KT-2 rocket\u2019s design. The multi-stage booster could be based on technology developed for the Chinese military\u2019s road-mobile DF-31 ballistic missile, with the addition of an upper stage to place an object into orbit.<\/p>\n<p>Chinese social media accounts shared several photos appearing to show the KT-2 launch around sunrise at Jiuquan.<\/p>\n<p><iframe id=\"twitter-widget-0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowtransparency=\"true\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" class=\"\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden; width: 0px; height: 0px; display: block; flex-grow: 1;\" title=\"X Post\" src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/embed\/Tweet.html?dnt=false&amp;embedId=twitter-widget-0&amp;features=eyJ0ZndfdGltZWxpbmVfbGlzdCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOltdLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2ZvbGxvd2VyX2NvdW50X3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9iYWNrZW5kIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19yZWZzcmNfc2Vzc2lvbiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZm9zbnJfc29mdF9pbnRlcnZlbnRpb25zX2VuYWJsZWQiOnsiYnVja2V0Ijoib24iLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X21peGVkX21lZGlhXzE1ODk3Ijp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRyZWF0bWVudCIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3Nob3dfYmlyZHdhdGNoX3Bpdm90c19lbmFibGVkIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6Im9uIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH0sInRmd19kdXBsaWNhdGVfc2NyaWJlc190b19zZXR0aW5ncyI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdXNlX3Byb2ZpbGVfaW1hZ2Vfc2hhcGVfZW5hYmxlZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdmlkZW9faGxzX2R5bmFtaWNfbWFuaWZlc3RzXzE1MDgyIjp7ImJ1Y2tldCI6InRydWVfYml0cmF0ZSIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfbGVnYWN5X3RpbWVsaW5lX3N1bnNldCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOnRydWUsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9LCJ0ZndfdHdlZXRfZWRpdF9mcm9udGVuZCI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJvbiIsInZlcnNpb24iOm51bGx9fQ%3D%3D&amp;frame=false&amp;hideCard=false&amp;hideThread=false&amp;id=837553773706797058&amp;lang=en&amp;origin=https%3A%2F%2Fspaceflightnow.com%2F2017%2F03%2F03%2Fsmall-experimental-satellite-launched-by-new-chinese-rocket%2F&amp;sessionId=b4af1ddd468fd2f345b02caf5fb57df1c8e8a5db&amp;theme=light&amp;widgetsVersion=6a3ad42b224df%3A1778106238597&amp;width=550px\" data-tweet-id=\"837553773706797058\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-lang=\"en\" data-twitter-extracted-i1782701422947912227=\"true\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"zh\">\u3010\u5f00\u62d3\u4e8c\u53f7\/Kaituo-2\u3011\u5c0f\u578b\u56fa\u4f53\u8fd0\u8f7d\u706b\u7bad\u53d1\u5c04\u5347\u7a7a\uff01 pic.twitter.com\/hOnDHh5G1K<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 ChinaSpaceflight (@cnspaceflight) March 3, 2017<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async=\"\" src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Xinhua reported the rocket was developed by China Aerospace Science &amp; Industry Corp., or CASIC, with the intention of eventually launching commercial satellites.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe \u2018KT-2\u2019 rocket is one of the five carrier systems in the CASIC commercial space plan,\u201d Xinhua reported. \u201cIt features high carrying efficiency and adaptability, according to the CASIC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>China has developed several new small satellite launchers in recent years. The Long March 11 rocket, managed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, another state-owned space contractor, debuted in 2015. The Kuaizhou 1 booster, another CASIC product, has launched satellites three times since 2013 with two different variants.<\/p>\n<p>The payload aboard the KT-2 launch was&nbsp;a small satellite named TK-1, the first spacecraft independently developed by CASIC, Xinhua reported. The TK-1 satellite \u201cwill be used for remote sensing, telecommunications and experiments in minisatellite-based technologies,\u201d the news agency said.<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. military\u2019s satellite tracking network detected two objects from the launch. One of the objects, likely the payload, is in a near-circular orbit ranging in altitude from 236 miles (381 kilometers) to 250 miles (403 kilometers) with an inclination of 96.9 degrees to the equator.<\/p>\n<p>Another object, believed to be the KT-2\u2019s upper stage, was found in a lower orbit, positioned to expedite its re-entry into Earth\u2019s atmosphere, a common tactic to minimize space debris.<\/p>\n<p>The KT-2\u2019s inaugural mission was the third Chinese space launch of the year, and the second from Jiuquan.<\/p>\n<p><b><i>Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>China debuted a new solid-fueled booster Thursday in an unannounced flight that put a small satellite into polar orbit, adding another rocket to the country\u2019s growing fleet of lightweight launchers. The KT-2 rocket lifted off at 2353 GMT (6:53 p.m. EST) Thursday from the Jiuquan space center, a military-run base in northwestern China\u2019s Gobi Desert, [&hellip;]<\/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":[2088,135,1578,3390,3391,3392],"class_list":["post-14829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-casic","tag-china","tag-jiuquan","tag-kaituozhe-2","tag-kt-2","tag-tk-2"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14829"}],"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=14829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14829\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}