China launches carrier rocket for satellite installation

China launched a Kuaizhou 1A carrier rocket on Wednesday afternoon at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the country's northwestern desert, placing four meteorological satellites in orbit, according to China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp.

The State-owned company said in a release that the solid-propellant rocket blasted off at 5:09 pm from its launch vehicle and then placed four satellites in the Tianmu 1 meteorological observation network into their preset orbit. The mission marked the 19th flight of the Kuaizhou 1A model and the type's first launch in this year.

The satellites are tasked with surveying atmospheric environmental elements around the globe, according to the release.

Developed by China Space Sanjiang Group in Hubei province, a CASIC subsidiary, the 20-meter Kuaizhou 1A has a lift off weight of about 30 metric tons. It is capable of sending 200 kilograms of payload into a sun-synchronous orbit, or 300 kg of payload into a low-Earth orbit, according to CASIC.

This is the 12th rocket launch China has carried out in 2023.