At 10:16 p.m. on January 13, a modified version of the Long March-6 carrier rocket lifted off at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China’s Shanxi Province. The rocket deployed the Yaogan-50 01 remote sensing satellite into its preset orbit.
The successful mission, also the 624th flight mission undertaken by the Long March rocket series, marked a successful start to the 2026 space mission schedule for the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).
The modified version of the Long March-6 carrier rocket blasts off at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in North China’s Shanxi Province on January 13, 2026. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, a subsidiary of CASC, takes overall responsibility for research, development and manufacturing of the satellite and rocket. The satellite is expected to be used in national land survey, crop yield estimation and disaster prevention and mitigation. The rocket is China’s first solid-liquid bundled launch vehicle. With a two-and-a-half-stage configuration, it is able to meet varied and frequent launch requirements for single or multiple satellites arranged in series, parallel, stacked, side-mounted, or ride-share configurations and can deliver payloads of no less than 4.5 tons into a 700-kilometer Sun-synchronous orbit.
(Executive editor: Yuan Ting)
