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Karthik Naren

Long March 6 launches 16 more Remote Sensing Satellites

Chinese remote sensing device fleet to be used in geographic projects

The Long March 6 No. Y10 takes off from platform 16 of the Taiyuan Launch Center

China launched in the early hours of today, Wednesday, August 10, 2022, sixteen new satellites on a CZ-6 Long March 6 No. Y10 from platform No. 16 of the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province. The satellites, including Jilin-1 Gaofen 03D-09 and 03D-35 to 03D-43 and Jilin 1 Hongwai A satellites, called Yunyao-1 No. 04 to 08 plus a Tianjin Binhai 1, were launched by a Long March 6 carrier rocket at 12:50 pm Beijing time (04:50 UTC) and entered the planned orbit. This was the 474th in the history of the Chinese space program, the 432nd for the Long March rocket family, and the 9th for the CZ-6 in particular.

All payloads were successfully placed into predetermined sun-synchronous orbits with an altitude of about 530 km with the descending node passing at 12:00 local time. The new batch of satellites will primarily be used in areas such as commercial remote sensing and atmospheric imaging. Including the ten newly launched Jilin 1 Gaofen 03D satellites, the total number of 03D-type vehicles is 33 units. While the maximum series number is 43, there are gaps in the numbering – satellites 08, 19-26 and 34 have yet to launch. The main features are a total mass of 43kg; the synchronous orbit of the sun, height 535km; 0.75m resolution, Image width of less than 17km, full color imaging spectrum: 450nm to 700nm (Blue: 430nm ~ 520nm / Green: 520nm ~ 610nm / Red: 610nm ~ 690nm / Near Infrared: 770nm ~ 895nm ); Data rate up to 900Mbps; side swing angle range ±45°; image mode: “broom” sweep, with image obtained in inertial mode.


Jilin-1 Hongwei A type satellites are manufactured in cooperation with Tianjin Yunyao Space Science and Technology Co., and are mainly intended for surveying and probing the Earth's atmosphere for meteorological observations. They are a serial version of the Tianjin Daxue satellite, built by Changuang company by order of Yunyao and launched on December 7, 2021 and probably also made in 12U cubesat format (10 × 30 × 40 cm) with a solar battery. of three sections.

Long March 6 No. Y10

The main payload of the Jilin-1 Hongwei A spacecraft is GNSS-R equipment to monitor ocean and Earth surfaces, as well as tracking moving targets in the reflected signals from space navigation systems. Additionally, a long-wavelength infrared camera is installed, which monitors thermal radiation from the ocean, land and atmosphere, receives radiometric information about the targets and performs infrared imaging according to built models of the atmosphere, land and sea. The A06 was named “Tianjin Binhai-1” in honor of the new coastal region of Tianjin, where Yunyao is based. The company recently raised nearly 100 million yuan in funding to accelerate the establishment of its 80-satellite commercial weather constellation.


Mission Patch

Direct launch preparation began on July 17 with the ceremony to send all satellites from Changchun to the test building. This was the 21st launch of the Jilin-1 project, seventeen of which were successful. A total of 74 spacecraft were launched, of which seventy are in orbit and are in operation (54 units) or in the commissioning phase (sixteen).

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