China launches test satellite for internet technologies

China achieved a milestone by successfully deploying a state-of-the-art satellite for testing cutting-edge internet technologies, launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

According to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., the nation’s leading space contractor, three experimental satellites were launched into space on Saturday morning.

The satellites in the Space-based Internet Technology Demonstrator series have been designed and built by the China Academy of Space Technology in Beijing.

They were transported into their preset orbit by a Long March 2C carrier rocket that blasted off at 8:13 a.m. at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China’s Gobi Desert.

The mission marked the fourth orbital deployment of satellites in the Space-based Internet Technology Demonstrator series. The first launch of such satellites took place in July, followed by another two in November and December.

A product of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing, the Long March 2C rocket type is 43 meters long and 3.35 meters wide and has a liftoff weight of 242.5 metric tons. The rocket is mainly used to deploy satellites to low-Earth and sun-synchronous orbits.

Both academies involved in the mission are subsidiaries of the state-owned conglomerate, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

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Sources inside the space industry said the mission marked the completion of China’s annual space launch plan in 2023.

So far, China has carried out 67 rocket launches this year, and 47 of them were conducted by the Long March rocket family, the nation’s main launch vehicle fleet.

Saturday’s launch marks the 48th successful flight mission in 2023 by the rockets developed by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, which has sent more than 130 spacecraft into scheduled orbits this year.

It is also the 505th flight mission undertaken by the Long March rocket series.

A remarkable phenomenon is that a total of 12 rockets built by private Chinese companies were used to send satellites this year, far more than in previous years, representing a rising power in the country’s space sector.