HELSINKI — China launched a pair of radar satellites late Sunday for a state-owned firm building a 28-satellite remote sensing constellation.
A Long March 2C rocket lifted off at 6:39 p.m. Eastern, Nov. 24 (2339 UTC) from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Insulation tiles fell from the rocket’s upper stage as it climbed into the night sky above the spaceport.
The Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology (SAST) announced launch success within an hour of liftoff, revealing the payloads to be the SuperView Neo-2 03 and 04 (Siwei Gaojing-2 (03, 04)) satellites for China Siwei Surveying and Mapping Technology Co., Ltd. Both SAST and China Siwei operate under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), the country’s state-owned main space contractor.
The spacecraft are described as high-resolution synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites equipped with phased-array radar payloads and providing a resolution of 0.50 meters. They will provide data for high-precision Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and radar orthoimages. The satellites use third-generation Gallium Nitride transmit-receive module components, according to SAST, increasing payload efficiency by enhancing power output and reducing energy loss.
SuperView Neo-2 03 and 04 will fly in formation and will be mainly used to obtain data for the management of natural resources, city security, emergency response and maritime operations.
The pair are part of China Siwei’s planned 28-satellite SuperView Neo remote sensing constellation. This will consist of 16 high resolution (0.2 to 0.3-meter resolution) optical, four wide-width (0.7m resolution with 100-kilometer swath width) optical, and eight SAR (0.5m resolution) satellites.
The first pairs of SuperView-1 satellites were launched in 2016 and 2018 respectively, completing the four-satellite SuperView constellation. Separate pairs of SuperView Neo-1 and SuperView Neo-2 satellites were launched in 2022, while SuperView Neo-3 (01) launched in April this year. All SuperView satellites have been sent into sun-synchronous orbits.
The launch was China’s 57th orbital launch attempt of 2024. CASC stated early this year that the country was targeting around 100 launches in 2024. Both CASC and commercial actors appear to have fallen short of targets of around 70 and 30 launches respectively. China is however expanding its spaceport options and developing reusable launchers, with both efforts to allow China to increase its launch rate.
The previous launch saw the Tianzhou-8 cargo spacecraft sent to the Tiangong space station via a Long March 7 rocket, launched from Wenchang. Upcoming launches include an expected first flight of Landspace’s methane-fueled Zhuque-2 with an improved second stage engine Nov. 27 and the first flight of the Long March 12 from Wenchang Nov. 30.