Long March 4B Puts 3 Satellites into Orbit

The Long March 4B carrier rocket was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi Province on Sept 12, putting three satellites — ZY-1-02D, BNU-1 and the Taurus Satellite, into sun-synchronous orbit.

It was the 310th launch of the Long March series carrier rocket.

The five-meter ZY-1-02D is a medium-resolution remote optical sensing satellite primarily developed by the Fifth Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

With a launch weight of 1,840 kilograms the satellite is operated on the sun-synchronous orbit with a return period of 55 days and has a designed life of five years.  

It adopts a three-axis stable geotactic control mode and features a visible near-infrared camera and a hyperspectral camera.

ZY-1-02D is a succession of ZY-1-02C. With features like medium resolution ratio and long-width observation, it mainly undertakes quantitative remote sensing missions and provides rich information of field spectra.

The payload on the satellite strengthens the spectrum remote sensing features which allows detailed investigation of field spectrum information and natural resource monitoring and surveys in the new era.

The Taurus Satellite was developed by the Aerospace System Engineering Shanghai affiliated to Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology. Its main mission is to verify the satellite sail device. The device starts working when the satellite completes its missions and is ready to burn.

At that time it unfolds a large film sail and uses the resulting low-track and thin atmospheric resistance to significantly accelerate orbit attenuation to help remove space waste.

The Long March 4B is a three-stage normal temperature liquid carrier rocket.

It was generally developed by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology and is able to launch many kinds of satellites, including single satellites with various orbital requirements and multiple satellites at one time.

Its carrying capacity for the 700-kilometer sun-synchronous round orbit is 2.5 tons.

This type of carrier rocket has been improved in recent years and its preparation time after entering the launching site has shortened to 17 workdays, the shortest period of rockets of its type.

A Long March 4B carrier rocket, carrying three satellites — ZY-1-02D, BNU-1 and Taurus Satellite, is launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi Province on Sept 12. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]

(Executive editor: Zhang Tianyuan)