Long March 2D rocket sends four satellites into orbit

A Long March 2D carrier rocket was launched on Friday morning at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province to transport four satellites into orbit, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the country’s major space contractor.

CASC said in a statement the rocket blasted off at 11:03 am to deploy the Beijing-3 commercial remote-sensing satellite and three small experimental satellites. This was the 52nd launch of the Long March 2D and the 373rd mission of the Long March rocket family.

Beijing-3 was built by Aerospace Dongfanghong, a subsidiary of the China Academy of Space Technology, and is tasked with surveying natural resources, monitoring ecosystems and the environment, and obtaining data for city administration and disaster prevention and relief.

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