China launched three new satellites final week, offering no particulars of the work they’ll do in orbit.
A Lengthy March 2D rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite tv for pc Launch Heart within the Gobi Desert at 2:00 a.m. EST (0700 GMT, or 3:00 p.m. native time) on Friday (Jan. 13), sending three categorised satellites into orbit.
The China Aerospace Science and Expertise Company (CASC), which produced each the rocket and satellites, announced (opens in new tab) the profitable launch of the Yaogan 37 and Shiyan 22A and 22B satellites inside an hour of liftoff.
Associated: The latest news about China’s space program
No particulars in regards to the three satellites had been supplied. Yaogan 37 will doubtless enhance China’s ever-growing distant sensing capabilities, whereas the Shiyan designation is believed to use to satellites testing new and untried applied sciences and payloads.
Chinese language state media acknowledged solely that the three satellites will “primarily be used for in-orbit verification of recent applied sciences equivalent to space atmosphere monitoring,” as is typical for each the largely categorised Yaogan distant sensing sequence and Shiyan satellites.
The U.S. Space Force‘s 18th Area Protection Squadron tracked and cataloged three satellites in roughly round, 320-mile-altitude (515 kilometers) orbits with inclinations of 43 levels.
The launch was China’s fourth of 2023, with CASC stating earlier in January that it plans to launch greater than 50 orbital missions this 12 months.Â
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