China sends 13 satellites into orbit with single rocket

China has successfully sent 13 satellites into orbit from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre in north China’s Shanxi Province on Friday.

The satellites, including 10 commercial remote sensing satellites developed by Argentine company Satellogic, blasted off atop a Long March-6 carrier rocket at 11:19 a.m. (Beijing Time).

Each weighing about 41 kg and with a design life of three years, the 10 satellites will be used to provide commercial remote sensing services with their multispectral and hyperspectral loads.

Also, onboard the rocket were three satellites developed by Chinese high-tech companies and research institutes for remote-sensing observation, science experiments, and science popularisation.

One of the three is a 6G test satellite, weighing 70 kg and named after one its developers, the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China.

The satellite, carrying a terahertz satellite communication load, will establish a transceiver link on the satellite platform and carry out terahertz load tests.

The launch of the 6G test satellite marks a breakthrough in the exploration of terahertz space communication technologies in China’s space field, said Xu Yangsheng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

The satellite will be used in smart city construction, disaster prevention and mitigation, land planning, environmental protection, and the monitoring of major infrastructure construction.

Friday’s launch was the 351st by the Long March rocket series.