China launches Tianhui 4 satellite into orbit

China launched the Tianhui 4 satellite into space on Wednesday evening from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

The State-owned space contractor said the satellite was deployed by a Long March 2D carrier rocket that blasted off at 7:13 pm and has entered orbit.

Tianhui 4, built by the company's China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing, will be used to conduct scientific experiments, land resource surveys and geologic information collection, the company said. Tianhui means "sky mapping" in English.

The launch marked the 404th flight of the Long March rocket family.

Developed by the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, another subsidiary of the company, the Long March 2D has a liftoff weight of 300 metric tons and is capable of transporting multiple satellites to different orbits. It has a carrying capacity of 1.2 tons to typical sun-synchronous orbit with an altitude of 700 kilometers, which is often used by weather or remote-sensing satellites.

By now, the Long March rocket fleet has carried out 47 launches in 2021, more than any other rocket family in the world. All the Long March flights this year were successful.

Consequently, China is expected to fulfill more space missions than any other spacefaring nation in the world this year, with 54 orbital launches so far. The United States has launched 45 rockets this year, ranking second in the global list of rocket liftoffs.

It is highly likely China will become the top annual user of carrier rocket for the third time after 2018 and 2019. It launched 39 rockets in 2018 and 34 in 2019.

Last year, China launched 39 rockets, following the US' 44.