A Chinese Long March 6 rocket launched five satellites into orbit on the Ningxia-1 mission Wednesday (Nov. 13), just three hours after another launch in a double header that comes amid busy two months for China’s space industry.
China has launched a series of Long March rockets and the new Kuaizhou-1A booster have made seven launches in recent weeks, and Space.com has some cool videos showing off each one. Here’s what they’ve launched in that time:
Nov. 13 at 1:35 a.m. EST (0635 GMT): A Long March 6 launches Ningxia-1 (see the video above) – This orbital launch lofted five remote sensing satellites into orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, Shanxi Province. This mission was the first time that the Long March-6 launched to a low-inclination orbit, according to NASASpaceflight.com.
Related: Latest News About China’s Space Program
More: Rocket Launches of 2019
Kuaizhou-1A lofts Jilin-1 Gaofen 02A
Nov. 12 at 10:40 p.m. EST (0340 GMT on Nov. 13): Kuaizhou-1A launches Jilin-1 Gaofen 02A – Just three hours before a Long March rocket launched Ningxia-1, Chinese commercial launch company ExPace launched a small satellite called Jilin-1 Gaofen 02A from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centrer in the Gobi desert. The satellite will perform remote sensing for civilian purposes, according to SpaceTechAsia.com.
Nov. 5 at 12:43 p.m. EDT (1743 GMT): Long March 3B launches 49th Beidou navigation satellite – This satellite soared into space from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. It’s part of a network of navigation satellites similar to GPS in the United States. China plans to launch six more BDS-3 satellites to finish the network, according to Xinhua.
Long March 4B launches Gaofen-7
Nov. 2 at 11:22 p.m. EDT (0322 GMT on Nov. 3): Long March 4B launches Gaofen-7 – Gaofen-7 launched from Taiyuan. The Earth observation satellite is able to capture high-definition images to help with activities such as construction and land surveying, according to Satellite Today. Gaofen-7 is the first satellite of its type that can resolve objects of less than 1 meter (3 feet) in diameter, the website added.
Long March 3B launches TJSW-4
Oct. 17 at 11:21 a.m. EDT (1521 GMT): Long March 3B launches TJSW-4 – There is little information available about this launch. TJSW-4 is the fourth in a series of communications engineering test satellites, which the Chinese government has said are supposed to perform tests in the Ka-band of broadband communication (between frequencies between 27 and 40 Ghz), according to NASASpaceFlight.com.
Two Launches in September
Another launch twofer!
On Sept. 22 at 5:10 p.m. EDT (2110 GMT): Long March 3B launches 2 Beidou navigation satellites and (2) Sept. 24 @ 8:54 p.m. EDT (0054 GMT on Sept. 25): Long March 2D launches Yunhai-1 02 – In this video showing two launches within a few days of each other, you can see more Beidou navigation satellites lifting off from Xichang, and the launch of a meteorological satellite called Yunhai-1 02 two days later, from Jiuquan.
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