China launches remote sensing satellite into space

China on Friday successfully launched a remote sensing satellite, which will join other such satellites in space, the country’s aerospace authorities said.

The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) said in a statement that a Long March 4C carrier rocket successfully lifted off Friday afternoon from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center.

It “then accurately sent the Yaogan 34-04 satellite into the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success,” it added.

This was the 470th launch of the Long March series vehicles.

Part of Dongfeng Aerospace City, the launch center is located in the Gobi Desert of China’s Inner Mongolia.

“The 04 satellite of Yaogan 34 was developed by the Eighth Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Co., Ltd., and will form a network operation status with the 01, 02, and 03 satellites of the Yaogan 34 that are already in orbit,” the CASTC said.

The satellite will be “mainly used for national land censuses, urban planning, land rights confirmation, road network design, crop yield estimation, disaster prevention and mitigation, etc., to meet the needs of rapid revisiting of earth observation.”

It added that the Long March 4C carrier rocket is “a room-temperature liquid three-stage carrier rocket” developed by the CASTC.

“It has the ability to launch various types of satellites with different orbital requirements, and can implement single-satellite or multi-satellite launches with one arrow mission, the 700-kilometer (435-mile) sun-synchronous orbit can carry up to 3 tons,” it said.

Meanwhile, Japan’s aerospace agency said on Friday that the launch of the H2A rocket, which was originally scheduled for May, will be postponed until August.

“No new launches are currently planned after a series of setbacks for the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, including the next-generation H3 rocket's failure and that of the smaller Epsilon-6 in October, which was ordered to self-destruct after deviating from its intended trajectory shortly after takeoff,” Tokyo-based Kyodo News reported.