China launched four cutting-edge scientific satellites on Wednesday evening to verify critical technologies for ambitious astronomical exploration programs to be deployed in the near future.
The satellites, named Pathfinder A, B, C and D, were deployed into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 600 kilometers by a Long March 2D carrier rocket, which blasted off at 7:41 pm from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region.
The spacecraft are technology demonstration satellites for the Tanyuan project, whose name means "exploring the origins". They are designed to operate in orbit for at least two years to carry out verification and testing of key technologies for cutting-edge payloads that will be critical to the Hongmeng program, the Kuafu 2 mission and the country's medium — and long-term space science development plan, according to the National Space Science Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The Tanyuan project includes four major endeavors: the Hongmeng project, which will probe the universe's dark ages and dawn; Kuafu 2, which will become the first solar observatory ever to image the sun's poles to study solar magnetism and space weather; the Earth 2.0 space telescope mission, which is tasked with searching for Earth-like planets; and the enhanced X-ray Timing and Polarimetry space observatory, which will study physical laws under extreme conditions, such as those found around black holes and neutron stars.
All four programs are scheduled to be deployed in space in the coming five years, the center said.
Upon completion of their verification tasks, the satellites will conduct trial observations and research on the space environment.
All four satellite platforms were designed and built by the Shanghai-based Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, another CAS subsidiary. Their scientific instruments were developed by other institutes under the academy.
Among the four satellites, Pathfinder A is the primary mission spacecraft, carrying multiple world-class instruments, including the Magnetic Field and Velocity-field Imager, the Very Large Area Gamma-ray Space Telescope Pathfinder, the High-resolution Atmospheric Boundary Layer Lidar, the Langmuir Probe and the Space Weather Effect Monitor.
Pathfinders B, C and D are tasked with forming a technical test system for a space-based distributed low-frequency interferometric imaging spectrometer.
After entering orbit, Pathfinder A and the other three satellites separated to conduct formation control and inter-satellite measurement verification. They will then begin technology demonstrations and testing, according to the National Space Science Center.
Wednesday's launch marked China's 83rd space mission in 2026 and the 677th flight of the Long March rocket series.
