China is maintaining its impressive launch cadence in 2023 with five more launches prior to now few weeks. These include a barge launch from the Gushenxing-1S rocket and multiple launches of Yaogan satellites.
Jilin-1 Kuangfu 02A – Gushenxing-1
On Friday, Aug. 25 at 05:59 UTC, a Gushenxing-1 rocket launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in China. This was already the fourth mission for the Gushenxing-1 rocket in 2023, which continues its ramp-up of launch cadence this yr.
The payload for this mission was Jilin-1 Kuangfu 02A, which is able to support the Jilin-1 Earth remark constellation. This series of satellites incorporates a significant mass reduction, where the mass per satellite was lowered from 1,200 kilograms to simply 230 kilograms. Jilin-1 satellites can image an area 150 kilometers wide with a 0.5-meter resolution.
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Liftoff of Gushenxing-1. (Credit: CASC)
Jilin-1 is China’s first remote-sensing satellite constellation made by a business company. Launches began in 2015, and the first operator of the constellation is the Guang Satellite Technology Corporation, a subsidiary of the Changchun Institute of Optics, Fantastic Mechanics, and Physics.
Once the constellation is fully operational, the goal is to image every inch of Earth’s surface every 10 minutes. The planned completion date is 2030.
Gushenxing-1 is a launcher made by Galactic Energy, a personal spaceflight company. It’s a four-stage rocket, with three stages based on solid motors and the ultimate stage using hydrazine for orbital insertion. Gushenxing-1 can lift as much as 400 kilograms into low Earth orbit.
At 08:36 AM UTC on Aug. 31, a Chang Zheng 2D was launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China. The launch was a part of the Yaogan-39 group and carried the three 01A-C payloads. The goal orbit for these satellites was a 492 by 503-kilometer low-Earth orbit with an inclination of 35 degrees.
🚀 Long March 2D Y82 launched Yaogan-39 from Xichang on August 31 at ~07:36 UTC pic.twitter.com/jezd2PzS4V
— China ‘N Asia Spaceflight 🚀𝕏 🛰️ (@CNSpaceflight) August 31, 2023
Yaogan Weixing spacecraft are used for “distant sensing.” They’re commonly called “Yaogan” for brief. These are classified payloads with many applications and purposes which are often not fully revealed. This is similar for this launch, as China didn’t detail the payload’s purpose besides the undeniable fact that it’s for distant sensing.
Chang Zheng 2D stands 41 meters tall with a diameter of three.35 meters and a complete liftoff mass of 232,250 kilograms. It relies on the hypergolic mixture of unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) and dinitrogen tetroxide (N2O4).
A launch from a sea platform within the Yellow Sea was conducted on Sept. 5 at 10:34 AM UTC. The launch was based on the identical rocket that launched Jilin-1 Kuangfu 02A, Gushenxing-1. On this configuration, it is named Gushenxing-1S because it is launched from a sea platform.
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The Tianqi payload. (Credit: CASCI
The mission’s payload was 4 satellites for the LEO Web of Things communication constellation Tianqui, consisting of satellites 21 through 24. The launch was conducted from the DeFu-15002 barge. The constellation supports intelligent cities, smart agriculture, revolutionary education, smart parking, smart cultural tourism, and intelligent water conservancy. Moreover, it helps with fire protection, environmental protection, cold chain logistics, and emergency communication.
The rocket was loaded horizontally onto the barge before being erected vertically closer to launch. The solid fuel and hypergolic combo used on the Gushenxing rocket makes it easy to store and transport because it doesn’t must cope with propellant boiling off.
Two more Yaogan launches were recently conducted. One took flight on a Chang Zheng 4C from Site 9401 (SLS-2) on the JSLC on Sept. 6. It carried a single Yaogan 33-03 satellite to a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
The distant sensing satellite will likely be used for science experiments, census of national land resources, crop yield, agriculture estimation, and disaster monitoring and prevention.
The Chang Zheng 4C (Long March 4C) is a medium-sized satellite launch vehicle from the Chinese space program. It is vitally incessantly used to launch Earth remark satellites.
CZ-4C is a three-stage launch vehicle using storable hypergolic dinitrogen tetroxide and unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine as its oxidizer and fuel.
The rocket is 46.97 meters tall, with a payload capability to LEO of 4,200 kilograms. The liftoff thrust is 2,993 kilonewtons.
As the ultimate launch of the week, China launched the Yaogan 40 payload to a polar orbit. This payload accommodates three Chinese reconnaissance satellites of unknown purposes, officially reported as for “electromagnetic environment probing” purposes. The launch time for this launch was 05:30 AM UTC on Sept. 10 from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in China.
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Chang Zheng 6A lifts off from China. (CASC)
As a part of this launch, China announced that a contract was signed to launch 10+ Chang Zheng 6A rockets per yr. A novel prolonged fairing was also featured on this launch, increasing the rocket’s length by almost 5 meters.
CZ-6A is a two-stage rocket loosely based on CZ-6 but modified in some ways. It might probably lift 5 metric tons right into a polar orbit and will likely be 50 meters tall with a diameter of three.35 meters. This specific launch’s rocket is anticipated to be closer to 55 meters in total length.