by China turned a double-header space flight into a triple play.
The country launched another rocket into space on Monday (September 26) at 7:50 p.m. take offs in recent days.
On Monday afternoon at the launch, from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in northern Shanxi Province, a Long March 6 rocket successfully delivered three satellites into orbit: Shiyan-16A, Shiyan-16B and Shiyan-17, according to Chinese media reports.
“Shiyan means ‘experiment’ in Chinese. The Shiyan trio of satellites will provide data for land surveying, urban planning and disaster prevention and mitigation,” state media Xinhua wrote in a brief report. (opens in new tab) about the launch.
China had already launched two other missiles just 40 hours apart before Monday afternoon’s action.
Related: China launches 4 satellites with 2 rockets in 2 days
On Saturday (September 24) at 6:55 p.m. EDT (2255 GMT, 6:55 a.m. Beijing time on Sept. 25), a Kuaizhou-1A solid-state rocket carried the Shiyan-14 and Shiyan-15 spacecraft into space, once again from Taiyuan.
This launch was the 18th overall for the Kuaizhou-1A, which is operated by the Chinese company ExPace (a subsidiary of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation).
“Shiyan-14 will be mainly used to conduct scientific experiments and verify new technologies, while Shiyan-15 will provide data in the fields of land survey, urban planning and disaster prevention and mitigation,” Xinhua reported on Sunday. . (opens in new tab) (September 25).
The second launch took place on Monday at 9:38 am. EDT (1338 GMT, 9:38 p.m. Beijing time) from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. On that flight, a Long March 2D rocket successfully launched the Yaogan 36 remote sensing satellite into orbit, Xinhua reported (opens in new tab).
While Xinhau did not discuss the satellite’s function, Western experts said the Yaogan satellites likely collect images and data for both civilian and military launches. It’s a crowded set of satellites, given that China has sent multiple sets of Yaogan 35 triplets into space in 2022 alone.
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