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| Credit:CNSA |
With its most recent flight, China's National Space Administration (CNSA) has maintained an amazing pace of launches so far this year. According to a report from Space.com, the agency launched a mysterious surveillance satellite that could be used to gather military intelligence for the nation.
On September 2, at 7:44 p.m. (23:44 GMT), the Long March 4C rocket carrying the Yaogan 33 satellite lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert.
Yaogan 33's launch on the Long March 4C rocket marked the nation's 35th successful launch this year and the Long March series carrier rocket's 435th flight.
Yaogan 33 is one of a new, classified series of remote sensing satellites, but very little more is known about it. The satellite will be used for "scientific experiments, census of national land resources, crop yield estimation, and disaster prevention," according to CGTN, a state-run media outlet in China.
The top stage of the Long March 4C rocket, orbiting at an altitude of 306 miles, and Yaogan 33, in a near-polar orbit of 428 by 423 miles (688 by 680 kilometres), were both discovered by the U.S. Space Force as it followed the launch (492 km).
According to the NASA Sapaceflight, Yaogan 33 (01), the first satellite in China's 33-series, is believed to be a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) system that is situated in orbit, allowing it to see through clouds and at night. Launched in late 2020, Yaogan 33 (01) is in a comparable orbit to Yaogan 33. (02).
China wants to launch 50 rockets this year.
According to SpaceNews, a Yaogan 33 satellite's initial launch attempt in 2019 was unsuccessful due to smoke trails that were seen after the launch, which indicated an abnormality had occurred. Since the second Long March 5's first-stage problem at launch in July 2017, it was the nation's first launch failure since that time.
This year, China plans to execute a record-breaking 50 launches. The United States has launched 50 times as of September 5. Due to the uncontrolled re-entry of the Long March 5B 21-ton rocket core stage that carried a portion of China's Tiangong space station into orbit, one of China's launches in July drew condemnation on the international arena.
