The 26th of December saw the launch of the Chinese rocket Long March 4B, carrying the Yaogan Weixing-26 satellite. Lifting off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 03:22, the satellite was taken to a 485 by 491 km orbit with an inclination of 97.4 degrees.
As with most Chinese satellite launches, this was classed as a remote sensing satellite to be used for crop yield surveys, land assessment, disaster monitoring and some scientific experiments. However, some argue that this satellite will be used for military purposes, along with the rest of the Yaogan Weixing series.
The Long March 4B was used for this flight. It is a three stage rocket capable of placing satellites in low Earth and sun synchronous orbit. It has launched a total of twenty-four times, with one failure. This failure came in 2013 with the loss of the CBERS-3 satellite.
China hope to launch their sixteenth rocket this year on the 31 December. This will be a Long March 3A launch taking the Fengyun-2G satellite to orbit.
As with most Chinese satellite launches, this was classed as a remote sensing satellite to be used for crop yield surveys, land assessment, disaster monitoring and some scientific experiments. However, some argue that this satellite will be used for military purposes, along with the rest of the Yaogan Weixing series.
The Long March 4B was used for this flight. It is a three stage rocket capable of placing satellites in low Earth and sun synchronous orbit. It has launched a total of twenty-four times, with one failure. This failure came in 2013 with the loss of the CBERS-3 satellite.
China hope to launch their sixteenth rocket this year on the 31 December. This will be a Long March 3A launch taking the Fengyun-2G satellite to orbit.