A Long March 2D carrier rocket was launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi Province on Jan 15, sending 14 satellites like Qilu-2 and Qilu-3 into selected orbit.
A Long March 2D carrier rocket, carrying 14 satellites, is launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China's Shanxi Province on Jan 15. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Generally developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the Long March 2D carrier rocket is a second-stage vehicle propelled by liquid propellants and is capable of sending a 1,300-kilogram spacecraft into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 700 kilometers.
It is mainly used in the low-Earth orbit satellite launch missions.
The launch on Jan 15 was the second mission of the carrier rocket in 2023.
Qilu-2 and Qilu-3 are a high-resolution optical satellite and a wide-swath optical satellite, respectively, carrying payloads of optical-imaging devices for Earth observation.
The two satellites will be mainly used in observation services for land surveys, agriculture, forestry, environmental protection, and disaster prevention and reduction and will serve the development of the space and aviation information industries and the project of replacing traditional economic drivers with new ones in East China's Shandong Province. They will also work together with the in-orbit Qilu-1 satellite.
Among the 14 satellites launched on Jan 15, there is a smart remote sensing satellite independently developed by CASC's China Academy of Space Technology. It is equipped with a high-resolution video camera and can realize multi-mode optical imaging and high-performance real-time results, as well as smart in-orbit planning.
The launch on Jan 15 was the 462nd mission of the Long March series rockets.
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
