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2024-11

China launches new group of remote-sensing satellites

A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying four remote-sensing satellites of PIESAT-2 blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Nov. 9, 2024. China successfully sent a new group of remote-sensing satellites into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Saturday. The four satellites of PIESAT-2 were launched at 11:39 a.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-2C carrier rocket and entered its planned orbit successfully. [Photo/Xinhua]

JIUQUAN, Nov. 9 -- China successfully sent a new group of remote-sensing satellites into space from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Saturday.

The four satellites of PIESAT-2 were launched at 11:39 a.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-2C carrier rocket and entered its planned orbit successfully.

They will mainly provide commercial remote-sensing data services.

The launch was the 544th flight mission of the Long March carrier rocket series.

In March 2023, China launched PIESAT-1 or Hongtu-1, a wheel-like formation of four satellites, the first formation of its kind in the world. They later successfully obtained high-precision terrain mapping data products using the multi-baseline interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) technology, marking China's first in-orbit application of such a mapping system.

A Long March-2C carrier rocket carrying four remote-sensing satellites of PIESAT-2 blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, Nov. 9, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]