spacetoday.net: China launches commercial remote sensing satellites

China launches commercial remote sensing satellites

Posted: Sat, Oct 10, 2015, 11:08 AM ET (1508 GMT)
Long March 2D launch of Jilin-1 (Xinhua)

A Long March rocket launched China's first commercial Earth imaging satellites Wednesday. The Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:13 am EDT (0413 GMT, 12:13 pm Beijing time) and placed four satellites, collectively known as Jilin-1, into a Sun-synchronous orbit. The spacecraft, built by Chang Guang Satellite Technology Co., Ltd. and funded by the Chinese province of Jilin, are capable of taking still and video images, with resolution of the optical still images as sharp as 0.72 meters. The spacecraft are the first Chinese satellites designed to take imagery for commercial applications.