spacetoday.net: China launches two satellites

Posted: Tue, Oct 21, 2003, 10:40 AM ET (1440 GMT)
Long March 4B launch (Xinhua)

A Chinese booster launched two satellites, including a remote sensing satellite jointly operated with Brazil, on Tuesday. The Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan space center in north-central China at 11:16 pm EDT Monday (0321 GMT, 11:16 am local time Tuesday) and placed its two payloads into Sun-synchronous orbits 775 km high at a 98.5 degree inclination. The primary payload on the booster was the China Brazil Earth Resources Satellites (CBERS) 2, a remote sensing satellite with visible and infrared cameras of resolutions of between 20 and 80 meters. CBERS-2, a joint project between China and Brazil, will replace CBERS-1, a similar satellite launched in 1999 that was shut down in August. The CBERS-2 launch had been pushed back since 2002 because of issues with the spacecraft. Two other CBERS satellites are planned for launch by the end of this decade. Also on board the Long March 4B was Chuangxin ("innovation") 1, China's first modern microsatellite. The spacecraft will be used to test advanced communications technologies.