Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
Editor's note: Sorry for the delays in delivering these two reports - I was pretty busy last week and just can't pull myself up in writing them. 
With the Chinese finally back to business in delivering whatever they have up their sleeves into space, there's no reason to stop (as a certain new SoCal aerospace company demonstrates)! In the matter of 4 days, 2 more Chinese rockets delivered 4 satellites into space and completing the feat of 4 launches in a single month - a pace probably necessary to clear up their backlog.
The first of the two occurred on September 4 at 00:15 UTC - just after sunrise over the deserts of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The 21st Long March 2D rocket performed yet another flawless launch and delivers two small civilian communication satellites into a 780 km polar orbit.
The two are each only about 100 kg each (which means the rocket has quite a bit of over-capacity!), yet each have their own characteristics. CX-1-04, a store-dump communication satellite for the Chinese Academy of Sciences to collect and transfer data to and from automated weather stations, buoys and other instruments, is an old friend of space with similar satellites launched in 2003, 2008 and 2011.
The other satellite is a newcomer. LQ is a prototype "smart communication satellite" developed by Tsinghua University (China's no.1 university in sci-tech, if you have never heard of it) in co-operation with a private telecommunication company lead by the Chinese tycoon behind the Nicaragua Canal project. It will perform multimedia broadcasting tests in preparation for possible plans of a Chinese low Earth orbit comsat constellation.
Just 4 days later, another Chinese rocket lifted off from another launch site. But that's for another thread..... :tiphat:
Chinese Long March 2D lofts satellite duo
With the Chinese finally back to business in delivering whatever they have up their sleeves into space, there's no reason to stop (as a certain new SoCal aerospace company demonstrates)! In the matter of 4 days, 2 more Chinese rockets delivered 4 satellites into space and completing the feat of 4 launches in a single month - a pace probably necessary to clear up their backlog.
The first of the two occurred on September 4 at 00:15 UTC - just after sunrise over the deserts of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The 21st Long March 2D rocket performed yet another flawless launch and delivers two small civilian communication satellites into a 780 km polar orbit.
The two are each only about 100 kg each (which means the rocket has quite a bit of over-capacity!), yet each have their own characteristics. CX-1-04, a store-dump communication satellite for the Chinese Academy of Sciences to collect and transfer data to and from automated weather stations, buoys and other instruments, is an old friend of space with similar satellites launched in 2003, 2008 and 2011.
The other satellite is a newcomer. LQ is a prototype "smart communication satellite" developed by Tsinghua University (China's no.1 university in sci-tech, if you have never heard of it) in co-operation with a private telecommunication company lead by the Chinese tycoon behind the Nicaragua Canal project. It will perform multimedia broadcasting tests in preparation for possible plans of a Chinese low Earth orbit comsat constellation.
Just 4 days later, another Chinese rocket lifted off from another launch site. But that's for another thread..... :tiphat:
Chinese Long March 2D lofts satellite duo
