BEIJING: China launched a Long March 3B carrier rocket at Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province early on Thursday, marking the completion of the country’s annual launch schedule.
The rocket blasted off at 0:43 am and transported the Communication Technology Demonstrator 9 experimental satellite into a geosynchronous orbit, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation’s leading space contractor, said in a statement.
Developed by the company’s China Academy of Space Technology, the satellite is tasked with verifying multiband, high-speed satellite communication technologies, the statement said.
The mission was the 48th flight of the Long March rocket family this year. Five-and-a-half hours earlier, a Long March 2D rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China’s Gobi Desert and put the Tianhui 4 satellite into orbit. The satellite will be used to conduct scientific experiments and land surveys and collect geological information. Tianhui means “sky mapping”.
Long March rockets have carried out more orbital launches this year than any other rocket family in the world, and all were successful.
– The Daily Mail-China Daily News exchange item
