At 11:14 on January 15, the Long March-2 Ding "sharing rocket" was ignited and launched at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, and then 14 satellites including Qilu-2 and Qilu-3 were successfully launched into the predetermined orbit, and the launch mission was a complete success. This week, the Long March series of carrier rockets developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation has been launched four times, all of which have been successful, kicking off the year's mission with ultra-high density.
▲ Rocket ignition and liftoff (photo by Wang Letian)
▲ The rocket rushes to the sky (photo by Wang Letian)
The Long March-2D carrier rocket used in this launch is a two-stage liquid carrier rocket developed by the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, which is mainly used to carry out low-earth orbit satellite launch missions, with a 700-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit carrying capacity of 1,300 kg. This is the second launch mission of the Changerding rocket this year.
▲ Rocket transfer (photo by Sun Gongming)
In order to meet the domestic commercial satellite launch market demand and help the vigorous development of commercial aerospace, Great Wall Company, a subsidiary of Aerospace Science and Technology Group, launched the "Long March Express" launch brand. The launch was carried out in accordance with the launch service contract signed by Great Wall Company and Shandong Industrial Technology Research Institute for the launch of the Qilu-2 satellite and Qilu-3 satellite projects by the Long March-2D rocket, as well as the carrying and launching service contracts signed with six commercial aerospace companies and scientific research institutions. This is also the third time that Great Wall has launched services to domestic commercial aerospace customers in the "shared rocket" carpool launch mode.
▲ Rocket hoisting (photo by Sun Gongming)
Qilu-2 satellite and Qilu-3 satellite are high-resolution agile optical satellites and wide-format optical satellites, respectively, carrying optical imaging earth observation payloads, which are mainly used for earth observation in the fields of land resources, agriculture and forestry, environmental monitoring, transportation, disaster prevention and mitigation, and serve the development of aerospace information industry in Shandong Province and the conversion of old and new kinetic energy. At the same time, the satellite has inter-satellite laser communication capabilities, and combined with the launched Qilu-1, it can complete inter-satellite collaborative missions.
▲ Lifting star cap combination (photo by Sun Gongming)
Among the satellites launched this time, the intelligent remote sensing satellite 01 satellite is a light and miniaturized intelligent remote sensing satellite independently developed by the Five Institutes of Aerospace Science and Technology Group. The satellite payload is a high-resolution video camera, which has the characteristics of multi-mode optical imaging, high-performance real-time processing, open software platform, intelligent planning in orbit, intelligent processing in orbit, and flexible APP loading features.
This launch is the 462nd launch of the Long March series of carrier rockets.
Text/Wang Letian