spacetoday.net: China performs back-to-back launches

Posted: Fri, Nov 15, 2019, 5:28 PM ET (2228 GMT)
Long March 6 launch, November 2019

China carried out back-to-back launches of two small launch vehicles Wednesday. The Kuaizhou-1A rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 10:40 pm EST Tuesday (0340 GMT, 11:40 am Beijing time Wednesday) and placed a Jilin-1 satellite into orbit. The satellite is part of a constellation intended to provide data for natural resources and disaster management. The satellite, the 14th in the overall constellation, will produce high-resolution color and multispectral imagery. Hours later, a second Chinese rocket launched a group of smallsats. The Long March 6 rocket launched from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 1:35 am EST (0635 GMT, 2:35pm Beijing time) Wednesday carrying five Ningxia-1 satellites. The satellites are part of a remote sensing system being developed by a Chinese company, Ningxia Jingui Information Technology Co., Ltd.