Our today top news is that “China Launches New Science Probes, SAR Sat And Replacement Beidou Satellite”. China launched two launches last week to resupply its Beidou navigation system and launch test satellites for science and radar technology.
On May 21, at 4 a.m. Eastern, a Long March 2C rocket launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. On board were the Luojia-2 (01), a Ka-band synthetic aperture radar (SAR) test satellite for Wuhan University, and the Macau Science Satellites 1A and 1B, designed to study the Earth’s magnetic field.
While Macau Science Satellite 1B is equipped with solar X-ray instruments and high-energy particle detectors, Macau Science Satellite 1A includes payloads for detecting the Earth’s magnetic field.
The two will offer additional observations to those produced by the Sino-Italian seismo-electromagnetic satellite Zhangheng-1 and the ESA’s Swarm satellites. The satellites will also observe the South Atlantic Anomaly (SAA), a weak area in the Earth’s magnetic field that affects spacecraft operations.
While Northwestern Polytechnical University built 1B, the platform for satellite 1A was created by DFH Satellite under the auspices of the China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), the primary satellite-making division of China’s principal space contractor, CASC. The Macau University of Science and Technology (MUST) created the payloads.
The multi-angle and video radar imaging being tested by Luojia-2 (01) has a maximum resolution of 0.5 meters in spotlight imaging mode. According to sources in Chinese media, it will also test signal improvement and integration of remote sensing imaging, meteorological detection, and water conservation applications. It carries on China’s recent increase in SAR advancements.
Luojia-2, weighing 353 kilograms, was created by Wuhan University. The first satellite, Luojia-1, which weighed 20 kilos, was launched in June 2018.
The China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC), a different CASC affiliate permitted to offer commercial launch services, as well as satellites and engage in international space cooperation, assisted in the launch of the satellites.
Before that, on May 16, at 10:49 p.m. Eastern, a Long March 3B launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China. China’s Beidou navigation and positioning system’s 56th satellite was aboard en route to geostationary orbit.
This one is the Beidou system’s first backup satellite, which was finished in 2020. The new satellite is a component of a larger effort to increase the system’s accessibility, stability, capacity for brief message exchange, and location accuracy.
China has launched 19 and 20 rockets so far in 2023. According to declared plans, CASC anticipates more than 60 launches this year, and commercial actors may add more than 20 orbital flights.
Before the launch of the Shenzhou-16 crewed mission on May 22, a Long March 2F rocket was rolled out at Jiuquan. As early as May 27 might see that launch to the Tiangong space station. China launched the Tianzhou-6 cargo spacecraft earlier this month with food, fuel, scientific experimentation, and equipment for Tiangong. Landspace, a commercial company, recently sent Jiuquan its second Zhuque-2 metal ox.
