Cosmic Penguin
Geek Penguin in GTO
Chinese spaceflight ends the year in a high note when the 19th orbital launch attempt successfully deploys an Earth observation satellite for civilian uses. The [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March_4B"]Long March 4B[/ame] rocket lifted off the new launch pad at the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taiyuan_Satellite_Launch_Center"]Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center[/ame] at 03:26 UTC today, and reached the target orbit (770 km circular sun-synchronous orbit) 13 minutes later. The satellite is based on the three previous China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program satellites (ZY-1-01/02/02B), but this satellite will only be used by China's Ministry of Land and Resources. The satellite carries two high-resolution cameras with resolution of up to 2.36 meters and a pan-chromatic/multi-spectral camera with resolutions of 5-10 meters between 0.51 and 0.89 micrometers. The satellite will be used for civilian uses like city planning, environmental protection, agricultural surveys and disaster monitoring.
This launch means that Chinese rockets has, for the first time, surpasses American launchers in the number of orbital launch attempts in a given year (19 vs. 18, with one launch failure on each side). Considering that 21 launches were planned in early 2010, that's a pretty impressive record! 2012 promises more surprises from China, with up to two manned flights to Tiangong-1 and up to two dozen launches. And the Chinese seems to be aiming for an early start: the next Chinese launch (of the FY-2F geostationary meteorological satellite) is planned in early January. Stay tuned!
Overview articles:
China in surprise launch of Long March 4B with ZiYuan-1 (NASASpaceflight.com)
Photos:
Launch news report (in Chinese)
Discussion threads on this launch:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27440.0
http://www.9ifly.cn/thread-3048-1-1.html (in Chinese)
This launch means that Chinese rockets has, for the first time, surpasses American launchers in the number of orbital launch attempts in a given year (19 vs. 18, with one launch failure on each side). Considering that 21 launches were planned in early 2010, that's a pretty impressive record! 2012 promises more surprises from China, with up to two manned flights to Tiangong-1 and up to two dozen launches. And the Chinese seems to be aiming for an early start: the next Chinese launch (of the FY-2F geostationary meteorological satellite) is planned in early January. Stay tuned!
Overview articles:
China in surprise launch of Long March 4B with ZiYuan-1 (NASASpaceflight.com)
Photos:
Launch news report (in Chinese)
Discussion threads on this launch:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=27440.0
http://www.9ifly.cn/thread-3048-1-1.html (in Chinese)
