ON Sunday, China launched a Long March-8 rocket carrying 22 satellites, including three made by Shenzhen-based space companies.

The rocket lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 11:06 a.m. Sunday, with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC) later confirming the launch’s success. The launch also set a domestic record for the most spacecraft launched by a single rocket.

The satellites involve seven manufacturers with end users including seven commercial companies and two research institutes.

They are mainly used for remote sensing, oceanic environment monitoring, forest fire prevention and disaster relief.

The roughly 60-kilogram Hainan 1-01 and Hainan 1-02 satellites were developed by Shenzhen Aerospace Dongfanghong Satellite, under CASC’s ownership for Hainan Westar Remote Sensing Technology Application Service. The satellites carry imagers and automatic identification system (AIS) receivers for land and maritime surveillance.

The 14-kilogram Thor Smart Satellite, developed by Changsha-based commercial spacecraft maker and satellite operator Spacety, carries a distributed software protocol test payload and three GRID gamma ray burst detectors and the Aurora-2 X-ray polarimeter. It was the second experimental satellite for the Celestial constellation project, an open-source platform jointly developed by Spacety and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications Shenzhen Graduate School to serve State strategies and the world science front.

Main space contractor CASC is planning to launch more than 50 rockets this year, with several commercial companies also planning to launch a range of liquid and solid rockets.

China set a new domestic record of 55 orbital launches in 2021, surpassing the previous records of each of its 39 launches in 2018 and 2020.  

(Han Ximin)