This launch delivered 9 commercial satellites into low Earth orbit. Qilu-1 and Qilu-4, as well as most other satellites on this mission, are Earth observation spacecraft. One other satellite on this mission is the scientific research and technology verification satellite NEO 1 with the purpose of observing small space bodies, as well as testing the technology to use deployable net for catching small objects in orbit.
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) is the main contractor for the Chinese space program. It is state-owned and has a number of subordinate entities which design, develop and manufacture a range of spacecraft, launch vehicles, strategic and tactical missile systems, and ground equipment. It was officially established in July 1999 as part of a Chinese government reform drive, having previously been one part of the former China Aerospace Corporation. Various incarnations of the program date back to 1956.
INFO WIKINine small Chinese satellites, including a technology experiment to test out ways to capture space debris, rode a Long March 6 rocket into orbit April 27 on a rideshare mission managed by China Great Wall Industry Corp., the government-own…
China’s lightweight Long March (Chang Zheng) 6 rocket has successfully launched nine small satellites in a rideshare mission Tuesday. The launch took place at 11:20 China Standard Time (03:20 UTC) from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre i…
China launched a small space mining test spacecraft and eight other commercial satellites into orbit on a Long March 6 rocket late Monday.
CSG-3 is an Earth observation satellite for the Italian Space Agency, part of a reconnaissance constellation using synthetic aperture radars operatin…
2 satellites officially described as for "demonstration of new technologies for spatial targets detection" purposes.
A satellite officially described as for cartography purposes, details TBD.
A pair of Russian optical Earth observation satellites built by the Progress Rocket Space Centre for obtaining stereo images of the Earth's surface, …
China's geostationary meteorological satellite program FY-4 (Feng Yun 4) is the second generation of chinese geostationary meteorological satellites.
A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…
Note: Assignment of payloads to this launch is uncertain. The Russian Obzor-R satellite is a planned X-band radar earth observation satellite desi…
AST SpaceMobile’s Block 2 BlueBird satellites are designed to deliver up to 10 times the bandwidth capacity of the BlueBird Block 1 satellites, requi…
First test launch of CASC/SAST’s Long March 12A rocket, with a dummy payload. The rocket’s 1st stage attempted to land on a landing pad about 300 km …
Maiden orbital launch attempt for the South Korean start-up Innospace and its HANBIT-Nano small launch vehicle. Onboard this flight are five small sa…