China Launches Its Gaofen 13 Satellite Into Orbit

China has successfully launched another observation satellite with the Gaofen 13 launched from Xichang on Sunday, October 11.

The latest high-resolution Earth observation satellite was carried to geostationary orbit by a Long March 3B rocket. It lifted off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, China's southwestern space facility, at around 12:57 PM EDT. The successful launch was confirmed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the state-owned contractor for the Chinese space program.

(Photo: Photo by China Photos/Getty Images)
ZHUHAI, CHINA - NOVEMBER 2: (CHINA OUT) The Changzheng (Long March) 3B orbital carrier rocket was displayed in the run-up to the 7th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition on November 2, 2008, in Zhuhai of Guangdong Province, China. The upcoming event, also known as 'Airshow China', was scheduled to run from November 4 to 9, 2008 in Zhuhai.

First Launch Post-Renovation

The Gaofen 13 launch marks the first major launch from Xichang, considered the busiest among China's spaceports. Xichang Satellite Launch Center saw its last mission on July 9, successfully sending APSTAR-6D, a commercial telecommunication satellite, into orbit. It was also carried by a Long March 3B rocket.

After the APSTAR-6D launch, the satellite launch site has undergone renovations and upgrades in its infrastructure. It involved updates for the site's launch towers, refueling setup, power supply, and communications - aimed at boosting the Xichang site's safety and reliability for the next launches.

According to a report by Business Insider, the aim of the recent renovations is to increase the space site's launch capacity from seventeen launches in a single year to up to thirty launch missions. Administrators of the site are looking for five to six more launches in the last quarter of 2020.

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Gaofen 13 marks the 30th launch for 2020, despite the coronavirus pandemic. It includes four failed launches, the most recent of which was the Kuaizhou-1A solid rocket that was carrying a remote sensing satellite. Launching from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the middle of the Gobi Desert.

Long March 3B

Prior to this recent launch of the Gaofen 13 satellite, the Long March 3B and its enhanced version 3B/E, has been used in 65 successful launches of the Chinese space program. It has also seen two total failures, and two more failures, resulting in an overall success rate of 94.2 percent.

First introduced in 1996, the Long March 3B (or Chang Zheng 3B) remains the second most powerful rocket in the Chinese fleet, second only to the newer Long March 5. Its enhanced version, Long March 3B/E, was first unveiled in 2007 and features increased cargo capacity for the rocket's geostationary transfer orbit, as well as an increased lift for heavier payloads.

Gaofen Series of Satellites

Gaofen, which in Chinese literally translates to "high resolution," is a series of observation satellites under the China High-definition Earth Observation System (CHEOS). According to the Xinhua News Agency, these satellites will serve the country's economic development through information services. Its applications will include land surveys, urban planning, environmental protection, crop yield estimates, weather monitoring and warnings, and to improve the country's disaster prevention, mitigation, and response.

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The civilian CHEOS program was first approved in 2010, seeing the launch of the first Gaofen satellite three years later. It was then carried by a Long March 2D rocket, launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on April 26, 2013.

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